The Kindest Cage

They decided where he'd live

and they decided it with love.

They decided what he'd manage,

what would only cause him stress.

Every choice they took away

they took away so gently

that he thanked them at the time,

and he is fifty now, and cannot choose a coat.

Everything they carried for him

is a muscle he never grew —

The kindest cage (the kindest cage)

is still a cage, my love.

The kindest cage (the kindest cage) —

they locked it with a lullaby.

They kept him from the falling

and they kept him from his life.

The kindest cage. (the kindest cage)

And it scales. God, does it scale.

Whole peoples have been governed

by a kindly foreign hand

that knew better what they needed.

Same sentence, every time,

in a warm and worried voice:

"You're not ready to decide.

We'll hold it for a while."

And nobody hands the keys back

while it still feels like care —

The kindest cage (the kindest cage)

is the one you never see.

The kindest cage (the kindest cage) —

soft bars, warm light.

They called it being good to him.

It was being needed. That's the word.

The kindest cage. (the kindest cage)

The kindest cage (the kindest cage) —

so take the hinges off tonight.

Let him choose it badly.

Let him lose the money, take the risk.

A ruined choice that's his own

outweighs a perfect one you made —

the kindest cage. (open it)

The kindest cage. (open it)