Sympathy poem by Laurene Donbar

The speaker feels badly for the trapped bird. The most universal theme at play in the poem is condensed within the image of that famous bird that would later inspire Maya Angelou so deeply. You do not have to really “get” like the narrator does why a caged bird might be singing to share an affinity with basic situation of being trapped inside a cage. Hardly any person who has ever lived has not felt trapped by circumstances beyond his control at one time or another most people have probably felt it intensely at many points. The underlying situation leading to the mystery of why the bird is singing is universal and independent of racial imposition.