Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou is a beautiful poem which inspires the peace and hope of Christmas to light up our holidays. This poem promises to instill faith and belief in people especially children, to lighten up and be happy during Christmas and await goodness of life.

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem

     by Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes

And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.

Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche

Over unprotected villages.

The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.

What have we done to so affront nature?

We worry God.

Are you there? Are you there really?

Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,

Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope

And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.

The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,

Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.

Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.

Flood waters recede into memory.

Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us

As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children

It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.

Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,

Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.

At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.

We listen carefully as it gathers strength.

We hear a sweetness.

The word is Peace.

It is loud now. It is louder.

Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.

It is what we have hungered for.

Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.

A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.

Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.

We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.

We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.

Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.

We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,

Implore you, to stay a while with us.

So we may learn by your shimmering light

How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language

To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ

Into the great religions of the world.

We jubilate the precious advent of trust.

We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.

All the earth's tribes loosen their voices

To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,

Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.

Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.

Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves

And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.

Peace, My Sister.

Peace, My Soul.” 

Caged Bird Poem By Maya Angelou

Caged Bird 

       - by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back of the wind,

And floats downstream till the current ends,

And dips his wing in the orange suns rays

And dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage,

Can seldom see through his bars of rage,

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied,

So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,

Of things unknown but longed for still,

And his tune is heard on the distant hill,

For the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze,

And the trade winds soft through the sighing trees,

And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn,

And he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams,

His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream,

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied,

So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,

Of things unknown but longed for still,

And his tune is heard on the distant hill,

For the caged bird sings of freedom.

Phenomenal Woman Poem by Maya Angelou

Phenomenal Woman

     - by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou -  Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women

10 Inspiring Quotes by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a well-known American poet, writer and singer. She has several books which include autobiographies, poetry and essays to her credit. Her words, thoughts and life lessons are inspiring.So when one feels low or unsure about situations or circumstances, listening to her quotes instantly brings positivity and optimism. Here are ten most inspiring quotes of Maya Angelou that would lift up your spirit and motivate you.

10 Inspiring Quotes of Mary Angelou

1. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” - Maya Angelou

2. 

3. “No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”  - Maya Angelou



4.      “Did you want to see me broken?
          Bowed head and lowered eyes?
          Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
         Weakened by my soulful cries.

          You may shoot me with your words,
          You may cut me with your eyes,
          You may kill me with your hatefulness,
          But still, like air, I’ll rise.” -Maya Angelou


5.   “There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.”  - Maya Angelou



6.

7.  “Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”  - Maya Angelou



8.  “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.
      Don’t make money your goal.
      Instead pursue the things you love doing,
      and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” - Maya Angelou




9. 
   

10. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.
       In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats,
       so you can know who you are, what you can rise from,
       how you can still come out of it.”  - Maya Angelou

When Great Trees Fall Poem by Maya Angelou

When Great Trees Fall

     - by Maya Angelou

When great trees fall,

Rocks on distant hills shudder,

Lions hunker down in tall grasses,

And even elephants lumber after safety.

When great trees fall in forests,

Small things recoil into silence,

Their senses eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,

The air around us becomes

Light, rare, sterile.

We breathe, briefly.

Our eyes, briefly,see with a hurtful clarity.

Our memory, suddenly sharpened,

Examines, gnaws on kind words

Unsaid, promised walks never taken.

Great souls die and our reality, 

Bound to them, takes leave of us.

Our souls, dependent upon their nurture,

Now shrink, wizened.

Our minds, formed

And informed by their radiance, fall away.

We are not so much maddened

As reduced to the unutterable ignorance

Of dark, cold caves.

And when great souls die,

After a period peace blooms,

Slowly and always irregularly. 

Spaces fill with a kind of

Soothing electric vibration.

Our senses, restored, never

To be the same, whisper to us.

They existed. They existed.

We can be. 

Be and be better. 

For they existed.