A little Maya
On her day of passing.
Her writing and life have inspired me. She always wrote with honesty and there was such a beauty in that.
From Letters to my Daughter chapter 27 titled "Mt. Zion" pg 161-62:
"Once in San Francisco I became a sophisticate and an acting agnostic. It wasn't that I stopped believing in God; it's just that God didn't seem to be around the neighborhoods I frequented. And then a voice teacher introduced me to Lessons in Truth...
At one reading, the other students, who were all white, the teacher, and I sat in a circle. Mr. Wilkerson asked me to read a section, which ended with the words "God loves me." I read the piece and closed the book. The teacher said, "Read it again." I pointedly opened the book, and a bit sarcastically read, "God loves me." Mr. Wilkerson said, "Again." I wondered if I was being set up to be laughed at by professional, older, all-white company? After about the seventh repetition I became nervous and thought that there might be a little truth in the statement. There was a possibility that God really did love me, me Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the gravity and grandeur of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve anything. For what could stand against me, since one person, with God, constitutes the majority?
That knowledge humbles me today, melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in my gums. And it also liberates me. I am a big bird winging over high mountains, down into serene valleys. I am ripples of waves on silver seas. I'm a spring leaf trembling in anticipation of full growth...
In all the institutions I try to be present and accountable for all I do and leave undone. I know that eventually I shall have to be present and accountable in the presence of God. I do not wish to be found wanting."
Her writing and life have inspired me. She always wrote with honesty and there was such a beauty in that.
From Letters to my Daughter chapter 27 titled "Mt. Zion" pg 161-62:
"Once in San Francisco I became a sophisticate and an acting agnostic. It wasn't that I stopped believing in God; it's just that God didn't seem to be around the neighborhoods I frequented. And then a voice teacher introduced me to Lessons in Truth...
At one reading, the other students, who were all white, the teacher, and I sat in a circle. Mr. Wilkerson asked me to read a section, which ended with the words "God loves me." I read the piece and closed the book. The teacher said, "Read it again." I pointedly opened the book, and a bit sarcastically read, "God loves me." Mr. Wilkerson said, "Again." I wondered if I was being set up to be laughed at by professional, older, all-white company? After about the seventh repetition I became nervous and thought that there might be a little truth in the statement. There was a possibility that God really did love me, me Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the gravity and grandeur of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve anything. For what could stand against me, since one person, with God, constitutes the majority?
That knowledge humbles me today, melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in my gums. And it also liberates me. I am a big bird winging over high mountains, down into serene valleys. I am ripples of waves on silver seas. I'm a spring leaf trembling in anticipation of full growth...
In all the institutions I try to be present and accountable for all I do and leave undone. I know that eventually I shall have to be present and accountable in the presence of God. I do not wish to be found wanting."
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