Bodhi slowly regains his composure as he continues to walk through the Grove of the Greeks. Voices call out from a nearby cave, breaking his trance. As he approaches, someone shouts: 

come to free you

from this seclusion

turn around to see

that which is an illusion

Curious, Bodhi cautiously enters the Cave of Forms and descends into darkness, groping to find his way. After his eyes adjust, he beholds a swan, with a white linen cloth, who is unshackling several swans that are sitting on the ground. Behind them are puppets and a fire that projects shadowy images. 

The freed swans plead:

leave us please

chained here since a child

the only world we know

we will not be beguiled

why do you force us

to see these strange things

we are frightened by them

and what the light brings

The unshackled swans turn back toward the wall. The master grabs and drags one of them up the path out of the Cave. Bodhi follows from behind. As the freed swan exits, he cowers from the sun and cries out:

please take me back

to darkness of the cave

freedom blinds my eyes

i would rather be a slave

After stumbling around, the freed swan rubs his eyes and searches the horizon. A slight smile comes to his face as he says:

now i see rocks and birds

adjusted to the bright

and shadows cast by trees

even the actual light

i now see the light

revealed the cave’s illusion

reflecting off real things

exposing our delusion

you must take me back

to tell prisoners depraved

tell them what i have seen

so they too may be saved

The master leads the freed swan back into the Cave, with Bodhi following. They stumble as they re-enter the darkness and approach the other prisoners, who mock the freed one:

look at our savior now

ruined are his eyes

cannot see what’s real

light became his demise

The prisoners turn to the master and plead: 

leave us, slave master

let us exist in peace

don’t want your strange ideas

we wish you to cease

The master and the freed swan continue to approach the prisoners. Feeling threatened, one picks up a shackle and swings it, violently, smashing the freed swan in the temple. Bodhi watches in disbelief and then quickly runs out of the Cave followed by the master. 

As they exit, Bodhi turns to him, breathing quickly, and asks:

what happened down there

why was there a coup

who are those prisoners

and who are you

The master responds:

my name is form

and i mean you no harm

student of know thyself

i do not bring alarm

the cave is our condition

prisoners, animal horde

passive, helpless, lost

illusions facing forward

freed one broke his bonds

questioned what seemed to be true

thought critically and doubted

all that he previously knew

yet he was threatened

by a prisoner of the charade

even with light of reason

piercing the cave’s shade

ignorance struck

dealing truth a mighty blow

took the freed’s life

leaving rest in woe

those who fear

and cower to forms

live in hellish ignorance

threatened by existential storms

Bodhi responds, bewildered:

i no longer understand

what is false and real

in what reality i live

my sanity does reel

Form replies, confidently:

you see some truths

do not decay or bend

like justice, beauty, numbers

unchanged from end to end

we call them forms

beyond time and mind

yet cling too hard to certainty

and you will go blind 

the moral life must rise

in turning toward the real

aligning with these forms

beyond what we can feel