Ode to Maya Angelou
I remember it well, that day when I was nine
Proud and naive, and besotted with new words
I thought I was a master crafter of art uniquely mine
But then I read this poem, and in me something stirred
From then on I never forgot those lines.
I couldn't comprehend what lay beneath my eyes
This made my poetry seem pasted and glued together
It soothed all my thoughts, it echoed in my mind "I rise, still I rise"
To Maya's siren song my heart has been tethered
And now I crave my own diamond thighs.
She gives voice to weak and those who lost their light
She burns with her own sun and calls others to do the same
With these words I have vowed to learn the freedom of flight
And with these words I have rekindled my own inner flame
For truth is the ink in Maya's pen as she writes.
So take your pain and weave it into a new shiny layer
Take the scorn and compose it into a lullaby
In your game of life you are the only worthwhile player
Let your own beauty out like rays breaking apart the skies
Together, with Maya, let's rise rise rise