Beneath (For Maya Angelou)

For Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

I know why the crow has landed

beneath your feet Ms. Marguerite. There was little left

you could do. Women have risen phenomenally

Men still wonder Because of you. Tragedy acquired

Its own twist of fate As time would have it Its favor rested on A bright-eyed face And on the pulse Of that morning, Still Even then you rose, To refuse the cackling calling Of the blackened crows.

They struggled to understand

How?

yet we know why. We’ve harkened to the wisdom Your hand has left Behind. Old folks laughed, kind Enough to share The messages, The pearls All the nuggets they could find.

And then one darkening day

In the oddest of time The end of May,

The crows flocked together

To kill the shine And take you,

Ms. ‘Rite Away.

Yet they couldn’t lift All they hoped to bear.

Only your body failed to resist defeat, And that is why My dear Ms. ‘Rite The cackling, blackened

And tackling crow

Could only land,

Beneath your feet.