Dr. Maya Angelou is an American poet born in 1928. She is known as one of the great voices of contemporary literature. As a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, she continues to travel the world, spreading her wisdom. Within the rhythm of her poetry and elegance of her prose lies Angelou’s power to help readers of every orientation span the lines of race.
The Below poem was written by Maya Angelou for Michael Jackson’s public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It was read by Queen Latifah, one of the many celebrities that paid tribute to the King of Pop
Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing, now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips like a puff of summer wind.
Without notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace. Sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon.
In the instant that Michael is gone, we know nothing. No clocks can tell time. No oceans can rush our tides with the abrupt absence of our treasure.
Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.
Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.
He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.
Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.
He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.
We had him, beautiful, delighting our eyes.
His hat, aslant over his brow, and took a pose on his toes for all of us.
And we laughed and stomped our feet for him.
We were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing. He gave us all he had been given.
Today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana’s Black Star Square.
In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England
We are missing Michael.
But we do know we had him, and we are the world.
Article by The XcapedCat
I am the escaped cat of @Glitterglitzer and @BarryckR. I blog, I quote, I bling, I dance and I hug! I love fun, beauty, weird and incredible.
has written 145 awesome articles for us at XcapedCat
Twitter: @xcapedcat | Facebook
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
How often do you write your blogs? I enjoy them a lot 5 1 2
Hi, i must say fantastic website you have, i stumbled across it in Yahoo. Does you get much traffic?
This post is beyond awesome. I am always wondering what to do and what not to do so I will follow some of these tips.
{ 1 trackback }