We Had Him

Thank you Maya Angelou, for creating such a beautiful, soulful, and loving tribute to Michael Jackson. His memorial service today (which I admittedly feared might become a spectacle) was a moving tribute to the Man in the Mirror that I choose to remember. This is Maya Angelou's poem: (and I hope Ms. Angelou won't mind my sharing it here with you): "We Had Him" by Maya Angelou Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing, now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips like a puff of summer wind.rnWithout notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace. Sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon.rnIn the instant that Michael is gone, we know nothing. No clocks can tell time. No oceans can rush our tides with the abrupt absence of our treasure.rnThough we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.rnOnly when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.rnHe came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.rnDespite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.rnHe thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.rnWe had him, beautiful, delighting our eyes.rnHis hat, aslant over his brow, and took a pose on his toes for all of us.rnAnd we laughed and stomped our feet for him.rnWe were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing. He gave us all he had been given.rnToday in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana's Black Star Square.rnIn Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, EnglandrnWe are missing Michael.rnBut we do know we had him, and we are the world. Thank you Michael for the light you shared, and thank you Maya, for a moving poem celebrating his life. I will miss him.