Poems on Love by Maya Angelou
These 7 Poems on Love by Maya Angelou explore a wide range of emotions, from the joy to the pain of betrayal. They are written with such precision and lyricism that they seem to capture the full range of human experience.
Maya Angelou’s poems on love are heartfelt and eloquent. She discusses relationships in both positive and negative light, but always with a focus on the importance of feeling loved. Her poetry is touching and memorable, making it an excellent choice for any occasion where you want to express your feelings.
Let’s dive right in.
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Maya Angelou Poems about love and life
Each of Maya Angelou’s poems captures the essence of love and life. She writes about the many different emotions that love can bring, from happiness to sadness, and explores the significance of family, friends, and community.
Her poems are both poignant and joyful, and they offer a unique perspective on the human experience.
They Ask Why
A certain person wondered why
a big strong girl like me
wouldn’t keep a job
which paid a normal salary.
I took my time to lead her
and to read her every page.
Even minimal people
can’t survive on minimal wage.
A certain person wondered why
I wait all week for you.
I didn’t have the words
to describe just what you do.
I said you had the motion
of the ocean in your walk,
and when you solve my riddles
you don’t even have to talk.
The Lesson
I keep on dying again.
Veins collapse, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
Rotting flesh and worms do
Not convince me against
The challenge. The years
And cold defeat live deep in
Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet
I keep on dying,
Because I love to live.
The Health-Food Diner
The Health-Food Diner
No sprouted wheat and soya shoots
And Brussels in a cake,
Carrot straw and spinach raw,
(Today, I need a steak).
Not thick brown rice and rice pilaw
Or mushrooms creamed on toast,
Turnips mashed and parsnips hashed,
(I’m dreaming of a roast).
Health-food folks around the world
Are thinned by anxious zeal,
They look for help in seafood kelp
(I count on breaded veal).
No smoking signs, raw mustard greens,
Zucchini by the ton,
Uncooked kale and bodies frail
Are sure to make me run
to
Loins of pork and chicken thighs
And standing rib, so prime,
Pork chops brown and fresh ground round
(I crave them all the time).
Irish stews and boiled corned beef
and hot dogs by the scores,
or any place that saves a space
For smoking carnivores.
Maya Angelou love liberates poem
Love Liberates
When speaking about how liberating love is, Maya Angelou opined that love is a force that can liberate people from their subjugation to society and the institutions that perpetuate that subjugation. She states:
“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.”
They Went Home
They went home and told their wives,
that never once in all their lives,
had they known a girl like me.
But… They went home.
They said my house was licking clean,
no word I spoke was ever mean,
I had an air of mystery.
But… They went home.
My praises were on all men’s lips,
they liked my smile, my wit, my hips,
they’d spend one night, or two or three.
But…
Maya Angelou love poems in and out of time
Maya Angelou’s love poems transcend time and place. They are rooted in the experience of the African-American community, but they also speak to universal human emotions.
Angelou’s poems are timeless because they explore the universal experiences of love and heartbreak. They are written in a variety of styles, from imagistic to formal, and they reflect Angelou’s unique voice and perspective.
In and Out of Time
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 our nightmares into 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.
Maya Angelou love poems for weddings
There is no denying that Maya Angelou is one of the most celebrated and respected poets in American history. Her work has been read and sung at weddings for years, and her love poems are often recommended to newlyweds as a way to express their feelings to one another.
Her work is believed to be timeless, and her words can speak to anyone who reads them.
Alone
Lying, thinking, last night
how to find my soul a home
where water is not thirsty,
and bread loaf is not stone,
I came up with one thing
and I don’t believe I’m wrong,
that nobody,
but nobody
can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
nobody, but nobody
can make it out here alone.
There are some millionaires
with money they can’t use,
their wives run round like banshees,
their children sing the blues,
they’ve got expensive doctors
to cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
no, nobody
can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
nobody, but nobody
can make it out here alone.
Now if you listen closely
I’ll tell you what I know:
Storm clouds are gathering
the wind is gonna blow,
the race of man is suffering
and I can hear the moan,
’cause nobody,
but nobody
can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
nobody, but nobody
can make it out here alone.
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.
Final thoughts on poems on love by Maya Angelou
Emotion is at the heart of all poetry, and no poet captures the full range of emotion better than Maya Angelou. The 7 poems on love by Maya Angelou shared saw the poet exploring various emotions, from the ardent to the heartbreaking.
Her mastery of language is stunning, and her poems are filled with universal truths about love that would have touched your heart.
