My Love Affair with Maya Angelou

I can't remember when I first knew of her. It was long before the 1993 Clinton Inaugural Poem, "The Rock Cries Out to Us Today"; long before the Million Man March; long before her many appearances on Oprah.

I think I first heard her read one of her poems on Phil Donahue. From that moment on, I combed libraries, book stores and, finally, the internet to read everything she has ever written.

Nothing speaks to my soul like this poem. It expresses my deepest love for my husband and my gratitude for what he has given me. It is my favorite.

In & Out of Time
by Maya Angelou

The sun has come.
The mist has gone.
We see in the distance...
our long way home.
I was always yours to have.
You were always mine.
We have loved each other in and out of time.
When the first stone looked up at the blazing sun
and the first tree struggled up from the forest floor
I had always loved you more.
You freed your braids...
gave your hair to the breeze.
It hummed like a hive of honey bees.
I reached in the mass for the sweet honey comb there....
Mmmm...God how I love your hair.
You saw me bludgeoned by circumstance.
Lost, injured, hurt by chance.
I screamed to the heavens....loudly screamed....
Trying to change my nightmares to dreams...
The sun has come.
The mist has gone.
We see in the distance our long way home.
I was always yours to have.
You were always mine.
We have loved each other in and out
in and out
in and out
of time.