The canary flapped its yellow wings, singing as it dove from the height of the juniper tree. It then nosed up close to the ground and launched into the sky again. It did this for one reason, and one reason only, to attract a mate. The hen was bathing by the pond’s edge, admiring the cockbird that sang for her. The sun shone, and the wind blew as if its existence were there only to intensify nature’s passion. Everything was in tune, a symphony of love and freedom; all creatures were but an audience of a grand orchestra.
But no one saw the net swinging as it crashed over the hen. The cockbird sprang towards his mate, ready to rescue her, but he was caught in a trap. They are both thrown into a cage, transported far away, and held captive in a prison with no trees, sunlight, or ponds. The air was not the same, nor did the atmosphere carry the scent of liberty. No. This was the city where your surroundings were polluted, and all creatures slowly died daily. No one enjoyed life; rather; they spent every day trying to make it another day.
The canary was placed in another cage with a divider between him and another female. It was not his love that he knew; no, it was a total stranger whose home was also stolen. The canary didn’t want anything to do with the hen, and it was the same vice versa. But time went on, and he did not see his love for long.
Spring had set in, but the cockbird didn’t see this. The lighting of the room they were imprisoned in could give the same effects as the sun, but it wasn’t the same. All it did was make him survive. Only survive. It wasn’t long before the monotonous days made him forget the canary he once fell in love with. The hen in the next cage also showed interest in him, and they began to communicate because that was all there was in a day.
It wasn’t long before the man who gave them food and water every day took the canary and placed him in the same cage as the hen. All this time, he had wanted the two canaries to become accustomed to mating, or else they would have fought in the same cage. Now that they were used to each other, he would expect eggs in a month.
A year later, the cockbird had mated with several hens, and no one would know whether he had chicks with the love he once knew. All the canaries were coupled by the law of instinct and not by passion like it was supposed to be. He never saw his chicks after four weeks because they were sold as pets. But there he stood, perched in his cage, unable to fly, unable to live. It was the same food and water given every day, never seeing the sky, never feeling the rain.
After a long time, after many years, the cage opened, and the man reached for him and took him outside, and set him free. Flying was difficult because he had never done it for a very long time, and though he was caged for so long, instinct told him where home was. Beyond the skyscrapers and faded skies, his home longed for his return. And so the cockbird fled the city searching for his home, hoping to be where he used to be. A hen had joined him in the sky, flying to where their hearts led, but the canaries did not know that they were each other’s love. They had become strangers in the ordeal where their identities were stripped for the sake of money.
After a long and tiresome journey of flight, they reached the pond, but their home was not the same. The pond was a feature that the town was built around. The juniper trees were all cut down, and buildings and homes were built in their place. Their homes were demolished and replaced by new infrastructure. They had lost their lives and homes, so they wandered here and there as vagabonds of nature, where the symphony of hopelessness and sorrow only paused to give a moment of silent despair…
