dear and blessed madiba

for most of my life you had been in prison
longer than i had been alive
madiba mandela
the song of your life was made lovely by what you believed
in the spaces your body was held
in the waiting and waiting
in what i could not imagine and still cannot

years that might make a life
passed by and you took them and you shaped them into your wisdom
madiba madiba
you let me know my anger, though justifiable,
was it’s own prison
your heart grew until no bars could hold you
you grew a collective freedom,
perhaps love freed you
but i wonder so, how did you find love inside of there,
was all of that inside of you?

your face of a thousand folds
appeared to be carved from smiling
miraculous madiba
black bodhisatva
the stories keep coming of your human-ness
thank you for how you journeyed this short arc
mandela mandela
madiba madiba
go on