She quieted herself
Her words were cursed after all
The difference between life and death
Coming alive only in her thoughts
As she dived through pages and pages of the “colored books”
And the white ones too…
Shushing herself in every other way
That is…until she met poetry
And longed to taste how it rolled off her tongue
And flowed through her lips
So under that house, she spoke
And from then on, the world listened…
As she sang
Gazed, as she danced
Dazed by her stature and the strength of her voice
The words she carried were heavy
She must have had a body-builder of a mind to carry them
Maybe it was exercise to her when she performed
Miss Maya…
Demanded the respect she worked hard to achieve
Used her words to free as she marched the streets
An activist
Actively changing the world around her through her words
They spoke blessings after all
And her legacy speaks loudly