We had Him, - Maya Angelou

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 we learn that Michael is gone
And we know nothing
No clocks can tell our time and no oceans can rush our tides
With the abrupt absence of our treasure

Though we our 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 of life he was sheathed in
mother love and family love and survived
and did not more than that he thrived

with passion and compassion, humor and style
We had him whether we knew who he was
or did not know, he was our's and we were his
We had him
Beautiful, delighting our eyes
He raked his hat slant 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, , beside the Fox River,
beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana's Blackstar Square,
in Johannesburg, in Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama & Birmingham England,
we are missing Michael Jackson
But we do know that we had him
And we are the world.

Maya Angelou on Michael Jackson 7-8-09, read by Queen Latifah