![]() I offer her own words back up in memory of all those great writers we've lost in 2014: As we wind down the remainder of the year, I pulled out this volume to receive a blessing from her words as I prepare for a new year ahead. I was deeply saddened by the passing of this great lady in 2014. The audiobook is a little short, but you won't notice, because the poems are timeless. Now, clap hands! Celebrate! We deserve it. The pit has been dark, it's walls were steep. We have thrived with passion, compassion, humor, and style. And yet still, here are a few lines from my favorite piece in the chapbook, "Million Man March:"Ĭlap hands, because we have survived. To hear such applied to her own affirmations of faith and joy is a true pleasure.Įven as I jotted these words in order to share them here, I felt them wilt from the version I had heard. Her voice is so rich, like honey sweetened warm tea. I listened to it on Audiobook, read by the author, and I highly recommend this format. This is a beautiful and very short chapbook of spiritual poems from Maya Angelou. Check for your local library on the app and read great books for free!□ I found CELEBRATIONS by Maya Angelou on the Libby app. ’And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, On the back cover is a quote from another of her included poems ’When Great Trees Fall’, which, while dedicated to Bernice Johnson Reagan, seems an appropriate tribute to Maya Angelou. There is more to this poem, more to this collection by Maya Angelou, but this one spoke to me as perhaps even more appropriate, needed, given the recent years we have lived through. It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.’ We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian, Implore you to stay awhile with us So we may learn by your shimmering light How to look beyond complexion and see community. Come and fill us and our world with your majesty. We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come. We beckon this good season to wait awhile with us. We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas. ![]() Security for our beloveds and their beloveds. A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies. We listen carefully as it gathers strength. Hope spreads around the earth, brightening all things, Even hate, which crouches breeding in dark corridors. It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets. Hope is born again in the faces of children. Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us As we make our way to higher ground. Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.įloodwaters recede into memory. The world is encouraged to come away from rancor, Come the way of friendship. Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters, Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air. What have we done to so affront nature? We interrogate and worry God.Īre you there? Are you there, really? Does the covenant you made with us still hold? The sky slips low and gray and threatening. Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche Over unprotected villages. Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses. To be shared and cherished, the wisdom and poetry of Maya Angelou proves there is always cause for celebration. More than a writer, Angelou is a chronicler of history, an advocate for peace, and a champion for the planet, as well as a patriot, a mentor, and a friend. Angelou writes of celebrations public and private, a bar mitzvah wish to her nephew, a birthday greeting to Oprah Winfrey, and a memorial tribute to the late Luther Vandross and Barry White. Several works have become nearly as iconic as Angelou herself: the inspiring “On the Pulse of Morning,” read at President William Jefferson Clinton’s 1993 inauguration the heartening “Amazing Peace,” presented at the 2005 lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House “A Brave and Startling Truth,” which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and “Mother,” which beautifully honors the first woman in our lives. ![]() Whether offering hope in the darkest of nights or expressing sincere joy at the extraordinariness of the everyday, Maya Angelou has served as our common voice.Ĭelebrations is a collection of timely and timeless poems that are an integral part of the global fabric. Her measured verses have stirred our souls, energized our minds, and healed our hearts. Grace, dignity, and eloquence have long been hallmarks of Maya Angelou’s poetry. ![]()
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