I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou

The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wings

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

 

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

 

The caged bird sings

with fearful trill

of the things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom

 

The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn

and he names the sky his own.

 

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing

 

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

In vain I hide my heart’s fierce pain

By Aleksándr Sumarókov

In vain I hide my heart’s fierce pain,

In vain pretend to inner calm.

I can’t be calm a single hour,

I can’t no matter how I try.

My heart by sighs, my eyes by tears,

reveal the secret misery.

You make all my efforts vain,

you, who stole my liberty!

 

Bringing a savage fate to me,

you troubled my spirit’s peace,

you changed my freedom to a jail,

you turned my delight to sorrow.

And secretly, to my bitterest hurt,

perhaps you sigh for some other woman,

perhaps devoured by a useless passion,

as I for you, you suffer too for her.

 

I long to see you: when I do I’m mad,

anxious, lest my eyes give me away:

I’m troubled in your presence, in your absence

I’m sad that you can’t know how I love.

Shame tries to drive desire from my heart

while love in turn tries to drive out shame.

And in this fierce conflict thought is clouded,

the heart is torn, it suffers, and it burns.

 

So I fling myself from torment to torment.

I want to show my heart, ashamed to do it,

I don’t know what I want, oh, that’s true,

what I do know is I’m filled with sorrow.

I know my mind’s held prisoner by you,

wherever I am it conjures your dear image:

I know, consumed by the cruellest passion,

there’s no way to forget you on this earth.