His Day Is Done Read online

  This poem was written

  on behalf of the American people

  on the occasion of the death of

  Nelson Mandela on December 5, 2013,

  at the request of the U.S. Department of State.

  (photo credit col2.1)

  Copyright © 2014 by Maya Angelou

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

  RANDOM HOUSE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

  Photograph credits are located on this page.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Angelou, Maya.

  His day is done : a Nelson Mandela tribute / Maya Angelou.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-0-8129-9701-9

  eBook ISBN 978-0-8129-9702-6

  1. Mandela, Nelson, 1918–2013—Poetry. I. Title.

  PS3551.N464H57 2014 811’.54—dc23 2013049202

  www.atrandom.com

  Cover design: Anna Bauer

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Author’s Note

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Epigraph

  First Page

  Photograph Credits

  Dedication

  Other Books by This Author

  About the Author

  Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

  —NELSON MANDELA

  (photo credit col3.1)

  His day is done,

  Is done.

  The news came on the wings of a wind

  Reluctant to carry its burden.

  Nelson Mandela’s day is done.

  The news, expected and still unwelcome,

  Reached us in the United States and suddenly

  Our world became somber.

  Our skies were leadened.

  His day is done.

  (photo credit 1.1)

  We see you, South African people,

  Standing speechless at the slamming

  Of that final door

  Through which no traveler returns.

  Our spirits reach out to you:

  Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, Boer.

  We think of you

  And your Son of Africa,

  Your Father,

  Your One More Wonder of the World.

  (photo credit 1.2)

  We send our souls to you

  As you reflect upon

  Your David armed with

  A mere stone facing down

  The Mighty Goliath.

  Your man of strength, Gideon,

  Emerging triumphant

  Although born into the brutal embrace of Apartheid,

  Scarred by the savage atmosphere of racism,

  Unjustly imprisoned

  In the bloody maws of South African dungeons.

  (photo credit 1.3)

  (photo credit 1.4)

  Would the man survive?

  Could the man survive?

  His answer strengthened men and women

  Around the world.

  In the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas,

  On the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco,

  In Chicago’s Loop,

  In New Orleans’ Mardi Gras,

  In New York City’s Times Square,

  We watched as the hope of Africa sprang

  Through the prison’s doors.

  (photo credit 1.5)

  His stupendous heart intact,

  His gargantuan will

  Hale and hearty.

  He had not been crippled by brutes

  Nor was his passion for the rights

  Of human beings

  Diminished by twenty-seven years of imprisonment.

  (photo credit 1.6)

  (photo credit 1.7)

  Even here in America

  We felt the cool

  Refreshing breeze of freedom

  When Nelson Mandela took

  The seat of the presidency

  In his country

  Where formerly he was not even allowed to vote.

  We were enlarged by tears of pride

  As we saw Nelson Mandela’s

  Former prison guards

  Invited, courteously, by him to watch

  From the front rows

  His inauguration.

  (photo credit 1.8)

  We saw him accept

  The world’s award in Norway

  With the grace and gratitude

  Of Solon in Ancient Grecian courts

  And the confidence of African Chiefs

  From ancient royal stools.

  (photo credit 1.9)

  No sun outlasts its sunset

  But will rise again

  And bring the dawn.

  Yes, Mandela’s day is done,

  (photo credit 1.10)

  Yet we, his inheritors,

  Will open the gates wider

  For reconciliation.

  And we will respond

  Generously to the cries

  Of the Blacks and Whites,

  Asians, Hispanics,

  The poor who live piteously

  On the floor of our planet.

  (photo credit 1.11)

  He has offered us understanding.

  We will not withhold forgiveness

  Even from those who do not ask.

  Nelson Mandela’s day is done.

  We confess it in tearful voices

  Yet we lift our own to say:

  Thank You.

  (photo credit 1.12)

  (photo credit 1.13)

  Thank You, Our Gideon.

  Thank You, Our David.

  Our great courageous man.

  We will not forget you.

  We will not dishonor you.

  We will remember and be glad

  That you lived among us

  (photo credit 1.14)

  That you taught us

  And

  That you loved us

  All!

  (photo credit 1.15)

  PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS

  col2.1 AP PHOTO / THEANA CALITZ-BILT

  col3.1 MEDIA24 / GALLO IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES

  1.1 APIC / GETTY IMAGES

  1.2 KEYSTONE / GETTY IMAGES

  1.3 MEDIA24 / GALLO IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES

  1.4 JÜRGEN SCHADEBERG / GETTY IMAGES

  1.5 AP PHOTO / GREG ENGLISH

  1.6 HELIFILMS / GETTY IMAGES

  1.7 AP PHOTO / DAVID BRAUCHLI

  1.8 GÉRARD JULIEN / GETTY IMAGES

  1.9 JOE ALEXANDER / GETTY IMAGES

  1.10 AP PHOTO / DENIS FARRELL

  1.11 AP PHOTO / DAVID BRAUCHLI

  1.12 DAVE HOGAN / GETTY IMAGES

  1.13 MIKE HEWITT-FIFA / GETTY IMAGES

  1.14 MEDIA24 / GALLO IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES

  1.15 TREVOR SAMSON / GETTY IMAGES

  To all the world’s citizens,

  who lost a friend

  when President Nelson Mandela died

  BY MAYA ANGELOU

  AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

  Gather Together in My Name

  Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas

  The Heart of a Woman

  All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

  A Song Flung Up to Heaven

  Mom & Me & Mom

  ESSAYS

  Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

  Even the Stars Look Lonesome

  Letter to My Daughter

  POETRY

  Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie

  Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well br />
  And Still I Rise

  Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?

  I Shall Not Be Moved

  On the Pulse of Morning

  Phenomenal Woman

  The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

  A Brave and Startling Truth

  Amazing Peace

  Mother

  Celebrations

  His Day Is Done

  CHILDREN’S BOOKS

  Poetry for Young People

  My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me

  Kofi and His Magic

  PICTURE BOOKS

  Love’s Exquisite Freedom

  Now Sheba Sings the Song

  Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

  COOKBOOKS

  Great Food, All Day Long

  Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Poet, writer, performer, teacher, and director MAYA ANGELOU was raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and then went to San Francisco. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies, beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she has also written five poetry collections, including I Shall Not Be Moved and Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?, and two cookbooks, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table and Great Food, All Day Long, as well as the celebrated poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” which she read at the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton, and “A Brave and Startling Truth,” written at the request of the United Nations and read at its fiftieth anniversary. She lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

 

 

  Maya Angelou, His Day Is Done

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net