Caged

Caged

The smell of flowers wafted across the water-filled stream. I sat there, watching the water as it flowed ever onward to continue in a cycle. The forest around me was mostly silent but for the thriving pulse of life from the animals making noises everywhere. Birds sang, but I couldn’t discern what kinds were among them.

It’d be nice if I could have been one of those people who liked to know about every bird they could find. Animals had this magnificent freedom.

They weren’t glued down to one spot. Free to fly wherever they desired.

Except for the ones who are caged and left as nothing but decorations, my mind muttered. They have no freedom; their song a cry for a rescue that will never come. They live and die in captivity.

"Shut up!" I whispered it, but knew I couldn't make the demon within me quiet. I never could. The rush of the water and sound of the birds mixed together in harmony to create a melody that soothed more than anything humans could create.

And I was all alone, in a cage of my own.