Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Sympathy

by: Paul Laurence Dunbar

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

    When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;   

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,   

And the river flows like a stream of glass;

    When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,   

And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—

I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing

    Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;   

For he must fly back to his perch and cling   

When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;

    And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars   

And they pulse again with a keener sting—

I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

    But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,   

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—

I know why the caged bird sings!

Four days from now, on February 9, one of the most acclaimed black poets of the turn of the 20th century died.  That poet and writer was Paul Laurence Dunbar.  This poem, "Sympathy," inspired Maya Angelou's own "Caged Bird," and his work continues to inspire and speak to poets and writers of today.

It's believed that he wrote this while working as an elevator operator in Dayton, Ohio--where he was born and went to school.

Like Angelou's poem, he writes a bird that hopes and longs for freedom.  He speaks of the bird as injuring itself, though, which is something I didn't see in Angelou's work.  That difference, to me, is an interesting one, and it makes me wonder about the difference of the times when their poems were written.  It makes me feel like Maya Angelou saw a more hopeful outcome for black people--one in which they didn't do harm to themselves or suffer harm from those who "caged" them.  I, too, wish and hope for that, but recent events have shown that hatred still burns strong in the heart of America.

I am left to wonder what Maya Angelou might have thought of our current plight, and a part of me wishes she were still with us--to advocate for black communities, to celebrate Amanda Gorman's successes, and to offer sympathy to the families of those who lost loved ones to violence and the pandemic.

I have to think that if Dunbar inspired Angelou, then he, too, should be celebrated for bringing a voice to a group of people in America and offering them, as Angelou did in her own time, hope.  I'm looking forward to exploring that hope further through Amanda Gorman's own poetry.

It is that hope and inspiration that I celebrate today.  May it carry us forward to a place where the caged bird is freed.