Oh My Maya (For Maya Angelou)

I wrote this piece a year ago. It came in a sudden flash of inspiration. I wasn't reading any of her work at the time, Nor had I seen her on any program or in any speaking engagement in proximity of the time I wrote it. Her love is so, that she is in your heart like a "kin" that you think of often even though you don't always get to see. And the love you have for her just shows up needing to be expressed. That is the place this came from. I offer it tonight to her... for the journey, and to us... for the solace. She stands among the ancestors now. Ashe' and Blessed Be...

Oh My Maya (For Maya Angelou)

She’s every ebony woman’s mother
An elder stateswoman of the noblest kind
She is the joy that lives in our hearts,
And the black beauty of our mind
She is the courage of our convictions
And the voice of our resolve
The singer of our afflictions
With word whispered from above
She is the phenomenon that ignited us
To live beyond the cage
A voice of black womanhood
In this present age
She has been our bright and shining star
Through many a dark night
And in our glories and triumphs
She’s been there to write
Those things that fill our hearts
But we cannot find words to say
Painting vivid pictures
Of our brightest days
Oh Dear Mother Maya
I am grateful you walked this mortal plain
Your presence has lifted our soul a little higher
May it be said of us the same.