The poem
In every heart there is a coward and a procrastinator. In every heart there is a god of flowers, just waiting to stride out of a cloud and lift its wings. The kookaburras, pressed against the edge of their cage, asked me to open the door. Years later I remember how I didn't do it, how instead I walked away. They had the brown eyes of soft-hearted dogs. They didn't want to do anything so extraordinary, only to fly home to their river. By now I suppose the great darkness has covered them. As for myself, I am not yet a god of even the palest flowers. Nothing else has changed either. Someone tosses their white bones to the dung-heap. The sun shines on the latch of their cage. I lie in the dark, my heart pounding.
I love this poem. It's about recognizing your true self and not being afraid to be who you are. Let yourself out of the cage and be free
Kookaberras
I think that this exquisite poem is about regret. Most of us are haunted by thoughts about things in our lives that we could have done differently, by bad choices that we've made.