A Rich Life

"Even the stars look lonesome"
Since you transcended
home
"In that great gettin' up morning - fairly well."

Blessed art thou among women,
Maya.
All the earth is blessed by your birth.

To much was given
in "the heart of this woman"
"singin' and swingin'
and gettin' merry like Christmas."
"In all ways a woman" -
and "A phenomenal Woman"
by all definitions.
Who freed the "the caged bird"
to sing the song
of times and places
near and far,
captured in
the colored faces
traced in the lines
entwined in the rich tapestry
found
wound
with the trellis vine of the stoic pine
made wandering the wildernesses
of the rugged mountains
rising with the sun,
and valley lows
deep in the frays of the day.

She rose
"unapologetically direct"
bathed in
"bright reds and oranges,
greens and pinks
teals and tourquoise"
blossoming in the morning
in all its glory.

"She collected herself inside herself"
"Refusing to remain blinded
to our history and deaf to the cries of our past" -
"refusing to preside over the mutilation of memory"
"with the courage to exist..."
She stood "A black woman tall as a cypress."
Head up and proud;
Possessing "the courage to dare..."
to dream dreams... to love loving;
Professing the "courage to hope..."
"Even when ... expectations are dashed to the ground
and broken into shards of disappointment."

Her art
"encourages us to stand erect -
stretch upwards to higher ground"
"putting starch in our backbones."
Her art
teaches us
to walk a little taller
over the shifting sands and turbulent seas,
across the low-lying meadows and the high drifting plains
that challenge our way.
Her art
gives us those much-needed eagles wings
to take flight -
even in night -
to fly into the distant "journeys,"
onto the faraway shores
where her voice
fuels "a cool drink of water"
in the desert dry.

We are braver because of you,
Maya Angelou...
my mother, my sister, my inspiration, my friend.
We are more than conquerors
than we would be
if you had not been;
If you had not taken up your pen,
engaging the senses -
as it has been with me -
to taste and see into the outer blue;
to hear and feel the sound of something new;
to shape a song on the page,
even if its one of rage.
It is the substance of being one with God
and doing our part.
Your art
challenges us
"To so live that we will not regret years
of uselessness and inertia."

So my dear lady...of our day
I say thank you.
Thank you for having invited me
to "the welcome table" -
bidding me come feast
and partake of your  great wisdom,
your humble, but fully-charged spirit,
your bold adventures into the words
and sounds
of the drum...
speaking...
reaching...
from "the balcony of the buzzard roost"
to dance upon the baptismal waters
for sons and daughters
of these multi-layered shores and seas.

Thank you so much for your loving touch,
your warm embrace,
your devotion to the call to come forth
and take up your cross
and put on our "travelling shoes."
Rest well, our queen
among the giants...
James (my sweet Jimmie B),
Ossie and Ruby Dee,
our beloved Coretta and Martin,
Malcolm and Betty,
Young Michael Brown
left to languish on the ground,
our great fella, Mr. Mandela -
to name a few,
along with our mamas and papas,
our own brothers and sisters
who we remember with you.

I loved you...a long time, Maya.
I will always treasure the words you wrote
in your personal note.
I'm praying to carry on...
"I'm gonna run on,
see what the end is gonna be..."
As we round the bend,
enter the gate,
when someday soon
we are all set free.

Note: The italicized quotes are from Maya's writing

"And He came to her and said, Hail. O favored one
The Lord is with you! Blessed art thou among women!"
Luke 1:28