Maya Angelou is an
American autobiographer and poet. According to Joanne M. Braxton, she's the
most America's visible black female autobiographer , she is best known for her series of six autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adulthood experiences.
Angelou made a poem for the Pop Star. The great poet said repeatedly, "
We had him." But in the last part of her poem spoke the truth about Michael Jackson: "
He gave us all he had."
When
Queen Latifah took the stage at Michael Jackson's public memorial, she said she was there as a fan, she loved and admired the King of Pop . The first record she and her brother ever bought was a Jackson Five song, she said. Then she read a moving tribute to the King of Pop, written by the queen of poetry,
Maya Angelou.
Queen Latifah, one of the many celebrities that paid tribute to Michael Jackson at the singer's public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
She then went on to read a poem that Maya Angelou wrote in tribute for the occasion called "
We Had Him".
Read the beautiful Poem below:
Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing, now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips like a puff of summer wind.
Without notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace. Sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon.
In the instant that Michael is gone, we know nothing. No clocks can tell time. No oceans can rush our tides with the abrupt absence of our treasure.
Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.
Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.
He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.
Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.
He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.
We had him, beautiful, delighting our eyes.
His hat, aslant over his brow, and took a pose on his toes for all of us.
And we laughed and stomped our feet for him.
We were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing. He gave us all he had been given.
Today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana's Black Star Square.
In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England
We are missing Michael.
But we do know we had him, and we are the world.
