Not so long ago, there was a little sparrow. It wasn’t old enough to know the sky but was old enough to know how to fly. And so it flew, over the mountains and through the clouds, the little angel of nature. It was living its life, breathing freedom, eating what it found edible, and flying where the wind shook its wings.
One day, it was suddenly injured. Somehow. There are too many ways to be injured in the wild after all. Then suddenly finding out that its little wings wouldn’t flap as smoothly, it kept making efforts, rebelling against both its own body and the world that injured it. In fact, it made such an effort that it caught the eye of a human, who finally put an end to its effort.
Now it was caged. Dark was its new home now. While darkness seemed to be just as boundless as the sky, it wasn’t able to breathe as smoothly anymore.
When it finally saw light, it had already become a she. And so, she was given all the love in the world by its new owners. She didn’t have to search for food. She didn’t have to struggle to fly, simply because she didn’t need to. And she even found the antics of its owners pretty interesting. Although they would occasionally touch her wrong, at times it was fun as well. She would get to perch on their fingers and dream of the wild again. She would get to feel the sense of calm and warmth that she rarely felt in the wild. She learned new things from the humans as well and soon she developed enough trust in them to be able to sleep soundly and securely in their presence. As she kept growing and learning new things, she was changing bit by bit as well. By then, her owners began to trust her as well, occasionally letting it out to roam their rooms and hallways.
But the bird was wild and free and rebellious. Love, food, and care weren’t enough to tame her, weren’t enough to make her submit. After all, this was a spirit that flew against the sky. Since the sky wasn’t enough to tame her, what of a few measly humans? And so, the first time they released her under the sky she had once known, she took a flight, back to her real home: the fleeting clouds, friendly trees, and the limitless sky.
Over and over it chirped, happier than ever but there was no one to hear it anymore. It had already left behind the people who used to pay attention to it when it chirped. Soon, it realized, the sky was too free now!
The sparrow who used to aimlessly wander, the free spirit of heaven… now needed a purpose. The possibilities that it loved to explore were beginning to overwhelm it. The nights were too cold for its fragile self to bear now. The world seemed to have lost its warmth. What was natural to it, staying cautious and flying high, was now a chore, and one with a heavy burden as well. It seemed to have exchanged everything for the sky but the sky refused to take it back.
There was no going back as well. It had already lost its way. Finally, when wandering aimlessly became more and more draining, it set its sight back to the image of the cage she kept in its heart. Though still lacking a direction, it now had a purpose! All that it needed to go on…
And so, the free sparrow took a wild flight again, in search of the cage that kept it away from the sky.
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