Summary

The poem begins with an unnamed speaker describing the image of a free bird reveling in nature and moving freely through the air: "A free bird leaps / on the back of the wind / and floats downstream / till the current ends" (1-4). The image progresses to describe the bird's actions against a particular background: "and dips his wing / in the orange sun rays / and dares to claim the sky" (5-7). The image described is one in which the bird is free to travel to any part of the earth it desires.

The second stanza pivots to a different image of a caged bird and the frustration associated with captivity: "But a bird that stalks / through his narrow cage / can seldom see / through his bars of rage" (8-11). After painting the image of a bird meandering around the small space granted for it to...