Stephen Crane

Scaped

Scaped - meaning Summary

Thoughts as Escaped Birds

The speaker recalls once possessing a perfect song, pictured as birds kept in a basket. When the cage is opened the birds fly away and cannot be retrieved despite the speaker's plea. The lost song becomes a distant, scattering image—"as sand thrown between me and the sky"—conveying the suddenness and irretrievability of inspiration and the pain of creative loss or fleeting thoughts slipping beyond reach.

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Once, I knew a fine song, - It is true, believe me - It was all of birds, And I held them in a basket; When I opened the wicket, Heavens! They all flew away. I cried, 'Come back, little thoughts!' But they only laughed. They flew on Until they were as sand Thrown between me and the sky.

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