December 9: Basketball Game, Maya Angelou, "The Week of Diana"

Tonight, I'm going to a basketball game.  No, I have not lost my mind or gone off my meds.  My daughter is playing in the pep band, so I'm going to be in the bleachers at least until after halftime.  Not to worry, though.  I have a good book to read and a brownie in my pocket.

The Maya Angelou poem that I've chosen for this evening doesn't really need any explanation, unless you are a millennial and have no memory of the death of Diana Spencer.  But it is so much more than simply a tribute.  It expands, like all Angelou poems.  Out and out.

The Week of Diana

by:  Maya Angelou

The dark lantern of world sadness has cast its shadow upon the land.

We stumble into our misery on leaden feet.

Our minds seek to comprehend the unknowable and our hearts seek to

Measure a tomorrow without the Sunshine Princess.

Her hands which had held bright tiaras and jewelled crowns,

Also stroked the faces of pain along

Angola's dusty roads.

She was born to the privilege of plenty

Yet, she communed with the needy without a show of pompous piety.

Glowing in Bosnia, radiant at glittering balls,

We came to love her and claim her for her grace and accessibility.

Luminous always.

We smiled to see her enter and grinned at her happiness.

Now the world we made is forever changed…

Made smaller, meaner, less colorful.

Yet, because she did live,

Because she ventured life and confronted change,

She has left us a legacy.

We also may dare…

To care for some other than ourselves and those who look like us.

And maybe we can take a lesson from her

And try to live our lives

With passion, compassion, humor and grace.

Goodbye Sunshine Princess.

Please vote for Saint Marty for Poet Laureate of the U P. at the link below:

VOTE FOR MARTIN ACHATZ FOR 2017 POET LAUREATE OF THE U.P.