Maya Angelou, We Wear The Mask [Watch]

#MayaAngelou #TheMask #BlackHistory #BlackAmerican

The Mask

by Maya Angelou

We wear the mask that grins and lies.
It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes.
This debt we pay to human guile
With torn and bleeding hearts…
We smile and mouth the myriad subtleties.
Why should the world think otherwise
In counting all our tears and sighs.
Nay let them only see us while
We wear the mask.

We smile but oh my God
Our tears to thee from tortured souls arise
And we sing Oh Baby doll, now we sing…
The clay is vile beneath our feet
And long the mile
But let the world think otherwise.
We wear the mask.

When I think about myself
I almost laugh myself to death.
My life has been one great big joke!
A dance that’s walked a song that’s spoke.
I laugh so hard HA! HA! I almos’ choke
When I think about myself.

Seventy years in these folks’ world
The child I works for calls me girl
I say “HA! HA! HA! Yes ma’am!”
For workin’s sake
I’m too proud to bend and
Too poor to break
So…I laugh! Until my stomach ache
When I think about myself.
My folks can make me split my side
I laugh so hard, HA! HA! I nearly died
The tales they tell sound just like lying
They grow the fruit but eat the rind.
Hmm huh! I laugh uhuh huh huh…
Until I start to cry when I think about myself
And my folks and the children.

My fathers sit on benches,
Their flesh count every plank,
The slats leave dents of darkness
Deep in their withered flank.
And they gnarled like broken candles,
All waxed and burned profound.
They say, but sugar, it was our submission
that made your world go round.

There in those pleated faces
I see the auction block
The chains and slavery’s coffles
The whip and lash and stock.

My fathers speak in voices
That shred my fact and sound
They say, but sugar, it was our submission
that made your world go round.

They laugh to conceal their crying,
They shuffle through their dreams
They stepped ’n fetched a country
And wrote the blues in screams.
I understand their meaning,
It could an did derive
From living on the edge of death
They kept my race alive
By wearing the mask! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

NOTES:
An adaptation of the poem by Paul Lawrence “We Wear the Mask”

Comments

A Poetic Reflection on The New Year by Sharon L DuBois

#Happy New Year #NewBeginnings #SharonDubois #2025 H ow many times has one year flown by, without my humble, wide-eyed A mazement at the awesome wonders and blessings contained within? Is it P ossible that I have forgotten about the seemingly small, occasionally overlooked, daily miracles?? P eeking a blind eye around a blind corner to the approaching tomorrow, neglecting the precious gift of all Y esterdays. Reminder to self: Express genuine thankfulness for my family, friends, my job, which provides harvest-yielding seed, & All Praises to My Heavenly Father, whose Grace abounds brand spankin’ N ew every morning, as evidenced by my health, life, and strength. With each drop of rain, and rising of the sun, I am made aware of the E ver-present opportunity to do a “new thing”, a “new way”, with a “renewed mind”!! No logical reason to W hine or complain about difficulties along the journey, “JUST DO IT!!” The sum total of each and every one of my Y est...

Kate Bush - Among Angels - 50 Words For Snow - Chronicles of the Snow Globe - Chapter 7

#KateBush, #AmongAngels ,#ChroniclesoftheSnowGlobe , #UnderIce , #50WordsforSnow, Love pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled. This animation film is made by a dutch filmer: Michael Dudok de Wit and is called:Father and Daughter.

Celebremos el Mes de la Herencia Latina -Celebrate Latino Heritage Month

#Latina,#HispanicHeritageMonth,#Latino,#Latinx,#Latino Every year between September 15 and October 15 , Americans across the United States celebrate National Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month in honor of the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central, and/or South America. Originally designated as “Hispanic Heritage Week” by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, the 30-day period that is celebrated today was signed into U.S. law as a joint resolution by President Ronald Reagan and Congress in 1988. So why does the celebration kick off in the middle of September? Well, September 15 was selected as the first day in symbolic recognition of the Independence Days for the Latin American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, as well as Mexico (September 16) and Chile (September 18). Over the next month, many public schools throu...

Don't Look too Closely!

#OletaAdams #Dontlooktooclosely #Vulnerability #Empathy #Honesty #Truth Don't ask, if you really don't want to know Don't say you will, if your heart keeps saying you won't Don't try, if you really don't want to go All the way, to the end of the road Don't look too closely Or you will see Part of my secrets Coming out in me

Triple5Light Therapy

Search This Blog