Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Live and Unplugged

 

Maya Angelou

 Igualdad

Dicen que me ven a duras penas

a través de un vaso que no va a brillar,

aunque yo me he puesto frente a ustedes con osadía,

adornada con clase y marcando el paso.

   

Me escuchan débilmente

como un susurro fuera de alcance,

mientras mis tambores golpean el mensaje

y los ritmos nunca cambian.

   

Igualdad, y seré libre.

Igualdad, y seré libre.

   

Anuncian que mis maneras son excesivas,

que revoloteo de hombre a hombre,

pero si yo sólo soy una sombra para ustedes,

podrán entenderlo alguna vez?

   

Hemos vivido una historia dolorosa,

conocemos el vergonzoso pasado,

pero yo sigo yendo hacia adelante,

y ustedes llegando los últimos.

   

Igualdad, y seré libre.

Igualdad, y seré libre. 

   

Quítense la venda de los ojos,

quítense el tapón de los oídos,

y confiesen que me han oído llorar,

y admitan que han visto mis lágrimas.

   

Escuchen el compás tan persuasivo,

escuchen el latido de la sangre en mis venas.

Sí, mis tambores resuenan cada noche,

y los ritmos nunca cambian.

   

Igualdad, y seré libre.

Igualdad, y seré libre.

Maya Angelou

“Comer es algo muy íntimo, muy sensual. Cuando invitas a alguien a sentarse a tu mesa y quieres cocinar para ellos, estás invitando a esa persona a tu vida”. MAYA ANGELOU

PASTEL DE LIMÓN CON MERENGUE

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients
One 9-inch pie crust
For the filling:
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 1/2 cups soft white bread crumbs (no crusts)
4 large egg yolks, whites reserved for meringue
1 tablespoon butter
The zest of one lemon
Juice of 2 lemons
For the meringue:
4 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 tablespoons sugar


In a 9-inch pie dish, bake pie crust at 450°F for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
Turn oven down to 400°F. In a double boiler, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in hot water and combine until smooth. Add crumbs and continue mixing until smooth and thickened.
In a small bowl, beat egg yolks, and add a small amount of the mixture. Stir and then add it to the rest of the mixture. Cook over low to medium heat for 2 minutes. Add butter, lemon zest, and juice. Allow to cool slightly.
Make the meringue: beat egg whites with salt until frothy. Gradually add cream of tartar and sugar. Beat until stiff.
Pour the filling into the pre-baked shell. Pile meringue on top and cover the filling completely. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Maya Angelou

REMEMBRANCE

Your hands easy

weight, teasing the bees

hived in my hair, your smile at the

slope of my cheek. On the

occasion, you press

above me, glowing, spouting

readiness, mystery rapes

my reason

When you have withdrawn

your self and the magic, when

only the smell of your

love lingers between

my breasts, then, only

then, can I greedily consume

your presence.

 

Recuerdo- Maya Angelou

RECUERDO

El peso lento 

de tus manos, alborotando a la colmena de abejas

en mi pelo, tu sonrisa en la

pendiente de mi mejilla. Te apretás

sobre mí

esta vez, encendido, derramando

urgencia, y el misterio viola

mi razón

Cuando te retirás,

vos mismo y la magia, cuando

sólo el olor de tu

amor persiste entre

mis pechos, entonces, sólo

entonces, puedo devorar con gula

tu presencia.

Maya Angelou

el amor libera/LOVE LIBERATES

I am grateful to have been loved

and to be loved now

and to be able to love,

because that liberates.

Love liberates.

It doesn’t just hold—that’s ego.

Love liberates.

When my son was born, I was seventeen.

My mother had a huge house, fourteen-room house,

At seventeen, I went to her and said, “I’m leaving.”

She asked me “you’re leaving my house?” and she had live-in help.

I said “yes. I’ve found a job and I’ve got a room

with cooking privileges down the hall 

and the landlady will be the babysitter.

She asked me, “you’re leaving my house?”

I said “Yes, Ma’am,”

“And you’re taking the baby?”

I said yes.

She said “alright, remember this:

when you step over my doorsill, you’ve been raised.

You know the difference between right and wrong.

Do right.

Don’t let anybody raise you and make you change.

And remember this:

You can always come home.”

I went home every time life slapped me down and made me call it uncle.

I went home with my baby.

My mother never once acted as “I told you so,”

She said, “Oh, baby’s home! Oh my darlin!

Mother’s gonna cook you something,

Mother’s gonna make this for you!”

Love.

She liberated me to life.

She continued to do that.

When my son may have been five years old

My mother would pick him up all the time and feed him.

I went to her once a month and she would cook for me.

So, one day I went to her house and she had cooked red rice, which I love.

After we finished eating, we walked down the hill and she started across the street and she said

“wait a minute, baby.”

I was twenty-two years old.

She said “wait a minute, baby,

you know, I think you’re the greatest woman I’ve ever met.

Mary McCleod Bethune,

Eleanor Roosevelt,

and my mother.

You’re in that category.”

Then she said “give me a kiss”

I gave her a kiss and I got onto the streetcar.

I can remember the way the sun fell on the slats of wooden seats.

I sat there and I thought about her.

 I thought:

Suppose she’s right.

She’s intelligent.

And she says she’s too mean to lie.

So suppose I am gonna be somebody.

She released me.

She freed me.

To say I may have something in me

that would be of value,

maybe not just to me,

that’s love.

When she was in her final sickness,

I went out to San Francisco.

The doctors said she had three weeks to live.

I asked her “would you come to North Carolina?”

She said “yes,”

She had emphysema and lung cancer.

I brought her to my home.

She lived for a year and a half.

And when she was finally, finally, in extremis,

she was on oxygen, fighting cancer for her life,

and I remembered her liberating me.

And I said “I hope I’ll be able to liberate her.”

She deserved that from me.

She deserved a great daughter and she got one.

So, in her last days, I said,

“ now I understand that some people need permission to go.

As I understand it, you may have done what God put you here to do:

You were a great worker.

You must have been a great lover because a lot of men

and, if I’m not wrong, maybe a couple of women risked their lives to love you.

You were a piss poor mother of small children,

but you were a great, great mother of young adults.

and if you need permission to go,

I liberate you.

I went back to my house

and something said “go back,”

I was in my pajamas,

I jumped in my car and ran.

And the nurse said,

“she’s just gone.”

You see, love liberates.

It doesn’t bind.

Love says, “I love you,

I love you if you’re in China,

I love you if you’re across town,

I love you if you’re in Harlem,

I love you.

I would like to be near you.

I’d like to have your arms around me,

I’d like to hear your voice in my ear,

but that’s not possible now,

so I love you.

Go.”

Maya Angelou

TOCADOS POR UN ÁNGEL

Nosotros, desacostumbrados al valor

exiliados del placer

enroscados en el caparazón de la soledad

hasta que el amor baja de su templo sagrado

y se presenta a nuestros ojos

para liberarnos a la vida.

Llega el amor

y en su tren vienen éxtasis

viejos recuerdos de gozo

antiguas historias  de dolor.

Y si somos audaces,

el amor arranca de nuestras almas

las cadenas del miedo.

Al calor de la luz del amor

abandonamos nuestra timidez

nos atrevemos a ser valientes

Y de pronto vemos que el amor

nos cuesta todo lo que somos

y todo lo que podemos ser.

Y sin embargo es el amor

lo único que nos libera.

 

 

Touched By An Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Maya Angelou

A Conceit

Give me your hand

Make room for me
to lead and follow
you
beyond this rage of poetry.

Let others have
the privacy of
touching words
and love of loss
of love.

For me
Give me your hand. 




 


  










 UNA PRESUNCIÓN

Dame tu mano
Hazme un espacio
Para llevarte y seguirte
Más allá del brío de la poesía.

Deja que otros tengan
La intimidad de
Palabras conmovedoras
Y gusto por la pérdida de amor.

Para mí,
Dame tu mano.

Maya Angelou

A pesar de todo me levanto
Podrás inscribirme en la historia
Con tus mentiras amargas y retorcidas,
Podrás arrastrarme en la basura misma
Y a pesar de todo, como el polvo, me levantaré.

¿Te desconcierta mi insolencia?
¿Por qué te acosa la melancolía?
Porque camino como si tuviese pozos de petróleo
Bombeando en mi sala de estar.

Igual que las lunas y los soles,
Con la certeza de las mareas,
Igual que las esperanzas que alto vuelan
A pesar de todo me levantaré.

¿Querías verme destruida?
¿Con la cabeza inclinada y los ojos cerrados?
Los hombros caídos como lágrimas.
Debilitada por mis gritos conmovedores.

¿Te ofende mi arrogancia?
No lo tomes tan a mal
Porque me río como si tuviera minas de oro
Cavándose en el patio de atrás.

Puedes dispararme las palabras,
Puedes cortarme con los ojos,
Puedes matarme con tu odio,
Y a pesar de todo, como el aire, me levantaré.

¿Te desconcierta mi sensualidad?
¿Te resulta una novedad
Que baile como si tuviera diamantes
En el medio de mis muslos?

Desde los cobertizos de una vergüenza histórica
Me levanto
De un pasado enraizado en el dolor
Me levanto
Soy un océano negro, impetuoso y extenso,
Fluyendo y embraveciendo soporto la marea.
Dejando atrás noches de espanto y miedo
Me levanto
En un nuevo día asombrosamente claro
Me levanto
Con los talentos que mis ancestros dieron,
Yo soy el sueño y la esperanza del esclavo.
Me levanto.
Me levanto
Me levanto.  






Nos ha dejado hoy

Poeta, educadora, autora, historiadora, activista, actriz, directora
 y productora.

 

 
Still I rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

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

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

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.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
 I rise.

 Maya Angelou recitando Still I Rise

Maya Angelou(USA)

Phenomenal Woman   

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. 

Mujer fenomenal  

Las mujeres hermosas se preguntan
Dónde radica mi secreto.
No soy linda o nacida
Para vestir una talla de modelo
Mas cuando empiezo a decírlo
Todos piensan que miento
Y digo,
Está en el largo de mis brazos,
En el espacio de mis caderas,
En la cadencia de mi paso,
En la curva de mis labios.
Soy una mujer
Fenomenalmente.
Mujer fenomenal,
Esa soy yo.

Ingreso a cualquier ambiente
Tan calma como a ti te gusta,
Y en cuanto al hombre
Los tipos se ponen de pie o
Caen de rodillas.
Luego revolotean a mi alrededor,
Una colmena de abejas melíferas.
Y digo,
Es el fuego de mis ojos,
Y el brillo de mis dientes,
El movimiento de mi cadera,
Y la alegría de mis pies.
Soy una mujer
Fenomenalmente.
Mujer fenomenal,
Esa soy yo.

Los mismos hombres se preguntan
Que ven en mí.
Se esfuerzan mucho
Pero no pueden tocar
Mi misterio interior.
Cuando intento mostrarles
Dicen que no logran verlo
Y digo,
Está en la curvatura de mi espalda,
El sol de mi sonrisa,
El porte de mis pechos,
La gracia de mi estilo.
Soy una mujer
Fenomenalmente.
Mujer fenomenal,
Esa soy yo.

Ahora comprendes
Por qué mi cabeza no se inclina.
No grito ni ando a los saltos
No tengo que hablar muy alto.
Cuando me veas pasar
Deberías sentirte orgullosa.
Y digo,
Está en el sonido de mis talones,
La onda de mi cabello,
La palma de mi mano,
La necesidad de mi cariño,
Por que soy una mujer
Fenomenalmente.
Mujer fenomenal,
Esa soy yo.