Freedom and Hope

Ahmad Zahir, famously known as the Diamond of the East, sang with such a melodious and beautiful voice:

“I do not say set me free from the cage… set me free, set me free, set me free/
Take my cage to the garden and make my heart glad, make my heart glad, make my heart glad”

This is a very well-known song among Afghans. For as long as I can remember, whenever this song is played, most Afghans either sing along with it or become lost in melancholic thoughts. The music itself is sad and slow, encouraging deep reflection. If you have time, it would be good to listen to this song again before reading this article...

The lyrics of this song were written by Mohammad Taqi Bahar, a contemporary Iranian Poet Laureate and writer. Bahar was crowned with the nickname Malek osh-Sho'arā, meaning the King of the Poets, and is considered one of the most influential poets of the past hundred years.

The question is why a poet of such high rank and influence would write, “I do not say free me from the cage”. Does he not like freedom? Does he prefer the cage? Bahar was a political activist himself and must have thought about freedom and its importance. This article, however, is not about politics or political freedom. In this article, we will examine the metaphor of a bird in captivity that does not seek freedom through a theological lens, uncovering truths that go deeper than its political meaning.

When we reflect on this verse, we identify three key points, which I will analyze in turn. Firstly, although the poet does not complain about being in a cage, this state of confinement causes him profound pain and sorrow. By juxtaposing the contradictory words “cage” and “free” in this verse, Bahar evokes a sense of fear and helplessness in the reader. The cage is restrictive, and the person inside is at the mercy of the bird hunter. He is no longer free but is instead enslaved. He have lost the freedom to choose, and his life and future is controlled by someone else. He cannot even use his wings anymore, which are fundamental to is identity.

If instead of reading this poem, we listen to Ahmad Zahir’s song, this feeling of fear and desperation is amplified. Although the words "free me" are present once in Bahar's poem, they are repeated multiply times at the end of each line that Ahmad Zahir sings: “I do not say free me from the cage… free me”. There seems to be an apparent contradiction. The repetition makes it look like he is imploring us to have mercy on him and free him from the cage, free him. Although the singer sings "I do not say that you free me", his plea to us is to listen more carefully, listen to the unspoken words of his heart. These two words are repeated many times throughout the song. The reason why this sentence is so effective and makes us feel sad is that we know the poet is not only expressing his own desperation but also revealing the truth of our inner lives. We, too, are trapped in a variety of cages, and despite our aching hearts and desire to be freed, we often pretend that we are not thinking about freedom at all.

Yet there is a world of difference between imploring, or even begging, and true hope that our entreaties can be heard. This is our second point. This bird in the cage has no hope of being freed. This is evident from his verbal request in the second verse, which says, "Take my cage to a garden and make my heart glad." He is not asking for freedom because he has no hope of being freed. What does he then ask for? He asks to be put in a garden, to look at some beautiful trees perhaps, to distract himself from his fate, and temporarily forget that he is in a cage.

He can imagine the freedom of others. In the fifth verse we read:

“Whoever has a captive bird in a cage
Take him to a garden and free him in my memory”

In this verse, the poet can imagine about the freedom of others, but he has nothing to say about his own freedom. He is silent about this because he has no hope of being freed. So, being hopeless has become an even greater cage for him. How interestingly though he captures the reality of our society: how many of us are captives to the boredom and the drudgery of daily life (or label your own cage) and want to be taken to the garden of sense and sensuality, money, and immorality, and believe that there is no hope for us to be ever freed.

Finally, there is no mention of salvation or savior in this poem. Throughout the poem, Bahar describe himself as follows: a bird trapped and imprisoned in a cage, someone who has been forgotten, poor and weak, and someone who himself and his house are being destroyed. Also, he describes humanity as a flower, a candle, and a butterfly, which unfortunately are all fragile and perishable. So, the very life of each is encaged in a body that is so very mortal. Even, when there is no cage of restlessness and distress, man is still in the cage of a weak and perishable body. The flower disappears. The candle goes out. The butterfly of existence burns, perishes, and who can save it from the burning fire of nothingness? Death is the last cage and enemy of man. Sadly, in the entirety of this poem, there is no way of salvation and no savior.

One of the most beautiful sayings of Jesus Christ is that "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free". The truth can set us free because there is freedom in the truth. Sometimes, instead of freedom, we settle for "take my cage to a garden and make my heart happy". Jesus teaches us that when we are honest and face the truth at any cost, without considering our own desires, without defending our thoughts, religion, and beliefs, without defending past sins or weighing our personal interests today, without the wish of showing the ancestors good or our neighbors bad, when we want the truth with all our heart, mind, and conscience and accept it, then we will find the freedom that can break all the steel cages. In truth, there is freedom. But the truth requires personal sacrifice; the sacrifice of all values that stand against the truth.

Something incredible happens when we accept that true freedom exists, and we do not need to be imprisoned in our cages forever. This knowledge gives us hope. On the other hand, even with this knowledge, we may think that the sacrifice required for freedom is beyond our ability, and this itself may cause unrest in our souls. We may come to believe that this is also a heavy burden on our shoulders, too heavy and unbearable. 

Jesus says: 

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

The invitation of Jesus Christ is not only that we honestly face the truth, but that he also provides rest and power when we find ourselves most weak. The message of Jesus is that it is no longer necessary to seek distraction while we are imprisoned. Rather, we can step into that true garden of true rest that has its roots in Eden, that garden where our first ancestors lived in true freedom. When we come accept this, hope begins to grow roots in our hearts.

So, in the teachings of Jesus, we find that there is true freedom. In the invitation of Jesus Christ, we see that there is peace that gives us hope. But one more important problem has not been solved yet, and that is that there is no salvation and savior in Bahar's poem. The bird may want freedom. He may desire to escape out of the cage. It may even hope that there is a way, but none of this still means that he is free. When we look again at Jesus, we see that even his name is a mystery. The name Jesus means savior. When Jesus talks about his mission to come into the world, he says that I come "to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Jesus Christ came to the world as the savior of mankind to set us free.

Jesus did not only teach this, but by his life, death, and resurrection proved that he is the savior of mankind. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact. So, when Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected from the dead on the third day, he showed that even death has no power over him. Jesus Christ removed that last cage, death, so that we can truly have eternal freedom.

In Jesus, we can see freedom from the cages of life. In Jesus, we can find peace and hope. In Jesus, we meet a savior. It is true that Bahar's poem expresses the natural truth of man, which is being imprisoned, hopelessness, and poor; things that we all have experienced. But the supernatural and divine truth of the Gospel is freedom, hope, and salvation. However, faith in Jesus Christ is the bridge that can take us from our natural human truths to the divine truths of the Gospel. God has given each of us the choice of how to live. Either we can sing sadly with Ahmad Zahir, "I do not say free me from the cage", or we can sing joyfully with those who believe in Jesus Christ, "There is victory, there is freedom, victory in your name Jesus". The choice is yours.