Amazing Peace w/ Poem – Maya Angelou

AMAZING PEACE by Maya Angelou

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.
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, and comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward 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.

—————

I have been taking on a new practice each morning that is really transforming my day and energy. And it is deeply shifting my centeredness, wholeness, peacefulness, personal resonance for the day. I’ve learned to sit in front of my altar in my bedroom and do a sacred connecting exercise that my Cherokee teacher has taught me about connecting with the Creator and Earth Mother, and then I start chanting. I just make sounds that feel very resonant with me and with different parts of my body that are holding tension. And as I do these sounds, I can feel those muscles in the body that are caught with tautness subtly ripple into calmness. They can be deep sounds, or higher pitches but I just do them repetitively until my whole being starts to feel like an incredible clear bell that is evenly ringing all around me. It’s really a beautiful experience. And a super way to start my day.

So I have just come down from doing it and here I discover this poem by Maya Angelou on the Blogosphere. I think I’m finally, at age 50.5 starting to really understand what this peace in the soul feels like. Letting go. Ringing with the light. Being with the perfect ‘is-ness’ of all that is around me and within me. Being — a bell of peace. Hey-ho.