We wear the mask that grins and lies. It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes. This debt we pay to human guile With torn and bleeding hearts… We smile and mouth the myriad subtleties. Why should the world think otherwise In counting all our tears and sighs. Nay let them only see us while We wear the mask. We smile but oh my God Our tears to thee from tortured souls arise And we sing Oh Baby doll, now we sing… The clay is vile beneath our feet And long the mile But let the world think otherwise. We wear the mask. When I think about myself I almost laugh myself to death. My life has been one great big joke! A dance that’s walked a song that’s spoke. I laugh so hard HA! HA! I almos’ choke When I think about myself. Seventy years in these folks’ world The child I works for calls me girl I say “HA! HA! HA! Yes ma’am!” For workin’s sake I’m too proud to bend and Too poor to break So…I laugh! Until my stomach ache When I think about myself. My folks can make me split my side I laugh so hard, HA! HA! I nearly died The tales they tell sound just like lying They grow the fruit but eat the rind. Hmm huh! I laugh uhuh huh huh… Until I start to cry when I think about myself And my folks and the children. My fathers sit on benches, Their flesh count every plank, The slats leave dents of darkness Deep in their withered flank. And they gnarled like broken candles, All waxed and burned profound. They say, but sugar, it was our submission that made your world go round. There in those pleated faces I see the auction block The chains and slavery’s coffles The whip and lash and stock. My fathers speak in voices That shred my fact and sound They say, but sugar, it was our submission that made your world go round. They laugh to conceal their crying, They shuffle through their dreams They stepped ’n fetched a country And wrote the blues in screams. I understand their meaning, It could an did derive From living on the edge of death They kept my race alive By wearing the mask! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
This is one of my all time favorite poems by Dr.Maya Angelo. I remember watching it when it first aired, and tears streamed down my face. What a poet, and true inspiration she was for women and men everywhere. IT was through this poem, I learned I had to take off a mask, and never put it on again. Love
The sound of this woman's voice simply gives me chills and goosebumps.her voice is amazing and what she has to say is soo real and inspires me.this woman is so wise and loving.she makes me smile whenever I see her :) simply amazing! Rest in peace Maya Angelou. I love everything you did! You will live on forsure! Gone but NEVER forgotten.
I heard Ms. Angelou recite this YEARS ago...I've ALWAYS remembered this, more than anything else I've heard from/by her. It stuck with me, and is actually something I've done in life to keep from breaking down when things become too much for me to bear.
Why is she gone? Where is she for me and all of us, besides memories and replayed poems? Now that I need her, so did God... But grateful am I that she lives on to teach me enough...
A Great Soul has passed in these times when we need her most. May Dr. Angelo's poems live on to teach the children, awaken the masses and connect to make us whole.
I'm so choked up after watching this........nothing is a mistake.....nothing is happenstance.....Like Maya Angelou said, We are ALL Human. I'm so glad I am in the world while Maya Angelou existed in this world. Her residue still heals, still strengthens.....Now that's ever lasting POWER! -Monea' aka BorntomotivateFILM
“ The Truth is, No Human Being can be MORE Human than another Human Being.” Maya Angelou~ So simple, yet so profound. 🤯 Bring Peace where ever you go. ❤️🙏🏼
Yes, this is why I love to listen to Maya Angelou. Her wisdom and life experiences teaches if people just listen. I love the people I come from and that's love. No human can be no human than another human being.
I Thank You May a Angelos, for the many years of expressed feelings,and poetic thoughts you shared with me and throughout your life time. You will need error be forgotten. ... R.I.P. LOVE DEBRA.2015
This gave me chills....She is timeless...her gift is timeless..only jealousy and foolish pride keeps one from truly understanding what she is relating...
I like how Ma immediately said “It’s love, not sentimentality.” As I was almost going to respond with tears, then I stopped myself thinking, it was an experience. I cannot feel shame or sadness for her experience. I can appreciate it, and as Ma states, it was her expression of love.
I never did wear a mask..then I saw my sister's did..they were raised in the deep south..but I left very young..I escaped so many old ideas..thank you creator. We forge my path🌳🍃❤
If you couldn't take anything from Maya, you need to ask yourself why? I think you will find that you were the problem. Not all students come to a class to learn or share love some come to dump their toxic feelings. I believe that the most discontented people are those who are disappointed in their lives. Johnx
***** Right anyone who is honest. Why would you think I wasn't being. Her name is going to be important for many generations to come. She made the word, thought and aspiring to be the best you can accessible for people without money or a university degree. She has been a huge inspiration for the good of mankind and love. Let's just agree to differ. In this country when she first appeared the tabloids tried their best to discredit her. It didn't and never. Take care, John x
So much sincerity in her voice. The depth in her voice is magnificent. Truly a voice of the people. The human people, the human race. Her race was won. God Bless.
Though this has been our plight I guarantee that not everyone can be us. And I'm sure that others thinks that about themselves and their own people. But we wear the struggle of a people who will always fight against the odds and we will stand to the very end of our individual lives. I am proud of my life and my people's legacy. I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thank you Maya Angelou for this beautiful and thought provoking poem on many levels of "the struggle". Rest In Peace. ❤️
it's crazy how incredible she is. To see something most people would mock or forget about and pull out the thing that is so beautiful and so profound . . . there is no one like her
No human being can be more human than another human being! I liberate you from my ignorance... love this woman's level of intellect. One of a kind... Born naturally devine! Big ups to you mama 💪❤👍strong love!!!
Such a humble woman. I could only hope to be as beautiful a person as she is. Made me cry. I wish more 13 years olds like myself would appreciate this wonderful woman. She speaks to me through everything I do.
April 4: Happy birthday Writer, poet, educator Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) Thank you and God bless. RIP....Thanks fro the upload, Russell Jones. Blessings
Thx from "pale" guy from other side of the ocean, you nailed it and brought me to tears in the middle of some laughter , a blues'er since he was 15 , having had so many blue's , dark blue in (the eyes of my dying mother), light blue (in the eyes of my kids ) like the sky on a clear day's morning ......
Dear God, I love this woman like she was my own grandmother.
Me too. I never got to meet her, but through the years her words resonate in my soul.
She is our grandmother not by flesh but by spirit.
Yes! I say she is my grandma too 💞 RIP Dear Grandma
She is our grandmother.
I wish she my grandmother so I can listen to her poem ♥️
She could've been the president of the United States if she wanted to. What a woman!
Phenomenal Woman....
Phenomenally
We need twenty of her today😭
Her job was so much more important than that. Her job was to change the world and she did.
@@36isnotold Amen!!
@NEGUS ASKARI HODARI ❤
"No human being can be more human being than another human." Beautiful and true words. To everyone who agrees, have a blessed day. Peace.
i beg to differ
i beg to differ
Blessings to you too 🙏
Thank you. 🦋
, @@orafranc237
The spirit of God..... moves through her voice
Love..... moves through her voice.
@@momackay God is Love...
True vessel of God
Nope. Thats all her. She's incredible.
Her wisdom is just beautiful.
gotta respect a woman who can make a grownass black man pull down his sunglasses to wipe off a tear on BET.
The atmosphere shifted right when you left us Mama Dr. Maya. We love you ❤️🥹
Nothing can compare to this lady who blessed our lives
We wear the mask that grins and lies.
It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes.
This debt we pay to human guile
With torn and bleeding hearts…
We smile and mouth the myriad subtleties.
Why should the world think otherwise
In counting all our tears and sighs.
Nay let them only see us while
We wear the mask.
We smile but oh my God
Our tears to thee from tortured souls arise
And we sing Oh Baby doll, now we sing…
The clay is vile beneath our feet
And long the mile
But let the world think otherwise.
We wear the mask.
When I think about myself
I almost laugh myself to death.
My life has been one great big joke!
A dance that’s walked a song that’s spoke.
I laugh so hard HA! HA! I almos’ choke
When I think about myself.
Seventy years in these folks’ world
The child I works for calls me girl
I say “HA! HA! HA! Yes ma’am!”
For workin’s sake
I’m too proud to bend and
Too poor to break
So…I laugh! Until my stomach ache
When I think about myself.
My folks can make me split my side
I laugh so hard, HA! HA! I nearly died
The tales they tell sound just like lying
They grow the fruit but eat the rind.
Hmm huh! I laugh uhuh huh huh…
Until I start to cry when I think about myself
And my folks and the children.
My fathers sit on benches,
Their flesh count every plank,
The slats leave dents of darkness
Deep in their withered flank.
And they gnarled like broken candles,
All waxed and burned profound.
They say, but sugar, it was our submission
that made your world go round.
There in those pleated faces
I see the auction block
The chains and slavery’s coffles
The whip and lash and stock.
My fathers speak in voices
That shred my fact and sound
They say, but sugar, it was our submission
that made your world go round.
They laugh to conceal their crying,
They shuffle through their dreams
They stepped ’n fetched a country
And wrote the blues in screams.
I understand their meaning,
It could an did derive
From living on the edge of death
They kept my race alive
By wearing the mask! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Thats My People, Thats Love
Thank you for sharing each beautiful word of this poem❤
Thank you for putting these words up. ❤️
Extraordinary Thank you
Thank you
"The truth is: no human being can be more human than another human being."
Such profound words.
Yes.
Who's here in 2021? So profound! Still makes me cry.
2022
Here in 2024 & yes she is timeless and her profound words and the 'shape' that she had of the world
This is one of my all time favorite poems by Dr.Maya Angelo. I remember watching it when it first aired, and tears streamed down my face. What a poet, and true inspiration she was for women and men everywhere. IT was through this poem, I learned I had to take off a mask, and never put it on again.
Love
Jester Jenkins :*O)
We wear the mask to keep our secrets. They don't deserve to see our pain
What an amazing woman. To rise out of ashes without bitterness but love.
"Bring peace in your heart whenever you go anywhere. ... You understand? It's my prayer for you." I just love that. Thank you for posting.
No human can be more human than another human being. (love)
i dont agree with that, but that doesn't matter
@@orafranc237 You dont have to agree but if you arent our race you will "never" understand. I say this unapapologetically.
The sound of this woman's voice simply gives me chills and goosebumps.her voice is amazing and what she has to say is soo real and inspires me.this woman is so wise and loving.she makes me smile whenever I see her :) simply amazing! Rest in peace Maya Angelou. I love everything you did! You will live on forsure! Gone but NEVER forgotten.
She is so true with what she says GOD loves us all the same...PEACE
I saw this one Sunday, while walking out the door on the way to Sunday school; I couldn't help my cry.
"But sugar it was our submission that made your world go round..."
rest in peace Maya Angelou rest in peace
Amen
I heard Ms. Angelou recite this YEARS ago...I've ALWAYS remembered this, more than anything else I've heard from/by her. It stuck with me, and is actually something I've done in life to keep from breaking down when things become too much for me to bear.
I still can’t understand how God created a woman to be so effortlessly beautifully brilliant ❤
I cried so hard when I heard this poem for the first time... so thankful for my ancestors and all they went through just so I can be here.
RIP 1928-2014 You will be missed...
And I can imagine she's already got 1000 sonnets made out while she's up there that are even better.
Wow...tell me about it...
They laughed, indeed, to 'cover' the mask! TEACH us, oh wise one!!💕🌹
Why is she gone? Where is she for me and all of us, besides memories and replayed poems? Now that I need her, so did God... But grateful am I that she lives on to teach me enough...
A Great Soul has passed in these times when we need her most. May Dr. Angelo's poems live on to teach the children, awaken the masses and connect to make us whole.
Jeanne-Marie Aurnague dr
In order to keep a person down, you got to be there with them...
Cindy Ibrahim it is the other way around
Cindy Ibrahim love it ! Right on que
Wow Cindy. You have words too !
What a privilege to have had this QUEEN 👑 in the world 🌍 Your words will live on in our hearts 💙💚🧡 forever Maya Angelou 🙏🏻👼🏽🙏🏻
Phenomenal Dr. Maya Angelou 🌷💚🦅☕ I smile Rest in peace 🙏💙 Psalm 23
What a gem...what a rare and fine gem....I'm glad that she is one of MY people!!!!!
Dr. Maya 's voice is like a warm hug on a cold Chicago day. 😊
I miss this Golden lady. A library of Loving knowledge & emotions. This Queen was truly Love ❤️
Beautiful!!!!
I'm so choked up after watching this........nothing is a mistake.....nothing is happenstance.....Like Maya Angelou said, We are ALL Human. I'm so glad I am in the world while Maya Angelou existed in this world. Her residue still heals, still strengthens.....Now that's ever lasting POWER! -Monea' aka BorntomotivateFILM
66 year old MEN can cry?? I am guilty!! RIP DR,MAYA ANGELOU! NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN.
She is one of my favorites!!! So much power
OHH Maya may your beautiful soul rest in peace. I love you
MAYA ANGELOU you were a fantastic phenominal woman words cannot describe how your words brings me joy love you loads RIP lovely lady
Maya Angelou is such a beautiful woman who if you read about her you would be suprised what she was and what GOD made her to be...Love HER
“In order to bring a person down you gotta be right there with them” I love her😩❤️
She's amazing simply amazing
She is so phenomenal, thank you Grandma Maya for all you've done Rest in power 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
"We wear the mask"😢😢😭
What an extraordinary woman she was.. She was a blessing.. But oh what pearls of wisdom she left behind..🔥💎💯💕
Hearing her voice always bring joy to my heart!!!!
“ The Truth is, No Human Being can be MORE Human than another Human Being.”
Maya Angelou~
So simple, yet so profound. 🤯
Bring Peace where ever you go.
❤️🙏🏼
R.I.P
Gone but not forgotten.
You were a gem.
I love this spiritual lifting 🥰😍😍
Yes, this is why I love to listen to Maya Angelou. Her wisdom and life experiences teaches if people just listen. I love the people I come from and that's love. No human can be no human than another human being.
This poem never fail to make my tear up.
She said to take peace with you! !!
She was and will always be the ultimate inspiration!!!
Her words were/ are water to our spirit. RIP ❤❤❤ wake up Black Americans!
Words of wisdom. Thank you, for your words, Dr. Angelou. You inspire me as the writer in progress, that I am.
"I liberate you from my ignorance" RIP Dr Maya Angelou
Mama thank you for leaving something for us to look to ...rest with angels maya
👍Love her. I’m blessed that I had the pleasure to meet her. 💞
I Thank You May a Angelos, for the many years of expressed feelings,and poetic thoughts you shared with me and throughout your life time. You will need error be forgotten. ...
R.I.P. LOVE DEBRA.2015
Mr favorite part - "Just decide, 'I'm going to take peace with me, i'm not gonna wait till I get there to make it'"@5:15
Matthew Nall Yes! I started listening to Adyashanti & he says same. So good to remember...
THE LADY SIMPLY STUNS "MY SOUL"!
She just makes me smile.
This woman damned near always brings me to tears. What a phenomenal woman. May God bless her for all eternity.
🙏
I never tire of watching this video. Beautiful And truthful
“I laugh so hard I start to crying 😢 “..” when I think about myself “ I’m only 17 and I knowsss . I laugh to numb away the pain and trauma
Her spirit is so beautiful. She is so inspiring. Her views of life is so gorgeous. Thank you, God for giving us an angel.
This gave me chills....She is timeless...her gift is timeless..only jealousy and foolish pride keeps one from truly understanding what she is relating...
I like how Ma immediately said “It’s love, not sentimentality.” As I was almost going to respond with tears, then I stopped myself thinking, it was an experience. I cannot feel shame or sadness for her experience. I can appreciate it, and as Ma states, it was her expression of love.
My grandmother and aunt use to wear that mask, may they rest in peace and I couldn't understand... why... now I do.😢
LA Dama De Nadie Life kills beauty internally.
I never did wear a mask..then I saw my sister's did..they were raised in the deep south..but I left very young..I escaped so many old ideas..thank you creator. We forge my path🌳🍃❤
I love and miss you so much Maya. I hope someday to have half your talent.
***** uncalled for response. Respect my people you obviously didn't listen to the end of the poem.
If you couldn't take anything from Maya, you need to ask yourself why? I think you will find that you were the problem. Not all students come to a class to learn or share love some come to dump their toxic feelings. I believe that the most discontented people are those who are disappointed in their lives. Johnx
***** Right anyone who is honest. Why would you think I wasn't being. Her name is going to be important for many generations to come. She made the word, thought and aspiring to be the best you can accessible for people without money or a university degree. She has been a huge inspiration for the good of mankind and love. Let's just agree to differ. In this country when she first appeared the tabloids tried their best to discredit her. It didn't and never. Take care, John x
Ms. Angelou, you will never know how valuable your life has been to so many people. I love you so much so very much💖
Her delivery was everything. With so much compassion, heart filled emotion and laughter, she recited this poem. So, so powerful!
I am crying. I read her books in middle School but I'm older now and have such a different outlook and appreciation for her
So much sincerity in her voice. The depth in her voice is magnificent. Truly a voice of the people. The human people, the human race. Her race was won. God Bless.
I cry how l long to write my poems with rich words like my hero here speaking from the heart , Oh Wear the musk😢
This piece was SOUL STIRRING!!! #RealityPoet💕👑
One of my favorite poems
I will always love this woman. .Her words. ....
I've always loved this Poem......
RIP you are an amazing women.
Such grace and class.
Forever an inspiration.
always be remembered maya Angelou
laughter is the best medicine...
Jody
I LOVE THIS WOMAN
I just love this amazing woman of God!
May you continue to Rest In Peace Dr. 🙏🏾❤️
Though this has been our plight I guarantee that not everyone can be us. And I'm sure that others thinks that about themselves and their own people. But we wear the struggle of a people who will always fight against the odds and we will stand to the very end of our individual lives. I am proud of my life and my people's legacy. I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thank you Maya Angelou for this beautiful and thought provoking poem on many levels of "the struggle". Rest In Peace. ❤️
OH YOU BEAUTIFUL LADY...HOW U TOUCH MY HEART....
Amen
I love her!!! Her and my grandmother. Smartest women ever!!!
4:30 I love this woman! So true!
it's crazy how incredible she is. To see something most people would mock or forget about and pull out the thing that is so beautiful and so profound . . . there is no one like her
Wow ...simply Wow !!
At that age ..she still can memorize the poem !!
She has been inspirational !!
#RIPMayaAngelou
This poem still has the ability to break me. I cry every time and that is because I can feel every word. You are so deeply missed Maya
No human being can be more human than another human being! I liberate you from my ignorance... love this woman's level of intellect. One of a kind... Born naturally devine! Big ups to you mama 💪❤👍strong love!!!
Such a powerful poem.
I Love this Lady!!! Her words forever in my Heart. 💖😍🙏 RIP Maya Angelou 🌠💖
Such a humble woman. I could only hope to be as beautiful a person as she is. Made me cry. I wish more 13 years olds like myself would appreciate this wonderful woman. She speaks to me through everything I do.
Oh how I admire this beautiful soul. Class act is an understatement.
This woman was amazing. But whoever edited this so badly needs a slap!
April 4: Happy birthday Writer, poet, educator Dr. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) Thank you and God bless. RIP....Thanks fro the upload, Russell Jones. Blessings
Everytime I hear this women my heart fills with goodness she inspires me to be a better person ❤
One love sister ❤️💛💚
Thx from "pale" guy from other side of the ocean, you nailed it and brought me to tears in the middle of some laughter , a blues'er since he was 15 , having had so many blue's , dark blue in (the eyes of my dying mother), light blue (in the eyes of my kids ) like the sky on a clear day's morning ......
I love this God sent woman.