^{For Dr. Maya Angelou}

Illuminated triangle crowned by the sun

                           The call of this road soft as a mother’s voice

Awaken to the living river of this road
Don’t confuse poison for sugar on this road

Get lost just to be saved on this road
Dance for your testimony on this road

Be On The Battlefield on this road

                             Use this path to step into your greatness

Be casually brave on this road
Stay fierce in your faith on this road
Tell the truth till Glory Hallelujah on this road

Step into your courage
Bolster your spirit

Know your Divinity

On the tongue that lifts faith above chaos
On the hands that built cradles when caskets were requested
On the pyramids, on the pyres, on the pulse of this new day

Know your Divinity

In the sanctuaries
In the sickrooms
In the gardens

               In the office of politics
               On the borders, in the matrix

Know your Divinity

               In the bordellos with backroom nurseries
               In the family reunions behind every prison wall

Know your elegance
Know your voice
Know your heart is not meant for storage

Know if they call for rifles someone must still bring bread

Know that last night something was said
And right at that moment, a man         a woman         was healed

 
                                                –––

 
Between the president and the mendicant
Between silk and steel conjoined above the fire
Between the tongue’s knife and the lover’s caress

              Burns the Blues (of every hue)

The call to freedom on this road
The feathery touch of love on this road

The rituals on this road
The forgiveness on this road

Praise the Spirituals hanging like fruit above this road
                            that fills our mouths
                                            yet remain whole & sweet for eternity