I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This is one of my absolute favourite poems.  I have never read a piece with a more elegantly-constructed cadence (though Poe's The Raven does come close).  Whenever I read this poem I just get these gorgeous swoops and dips of sunsetty colour, like orange ribbons looping and bobbing in the wind.  It's stunning.  Of course the words and the message are breath-taking as well (moreso if you know about Maya Angelou's life).  I want to twirl around in a ball gown made of this poem.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange sun's 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 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.

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.