Dear Chandelier,

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Some of us are just too close to the ground to see what the sky looks like and yet you, in your own way, have become the hanging crystal of inspiration. You stand unaffected among grand halls and ballrooms; of corporate offices and living rooms. I watch at the coming and going of guests. Some of them important, some not. They wrap themselves in fruitless conversation and rest their bottoms in chairs that hug the table beneath you. They shout with laughter and hold their noses in the air and yet they live on the ground. They have to look up to you and gasp in awe. So modest and rooted is this simple fixture in a room. I watch as your radiance pulls their mouths to the floor. Watch your occasional swing shift their eyes; watch your gracefulness stop their breaths. Softly and delicately, your crystals spark reflection like the conviction of a mirror, in which we are all forced to see ourselves. We try to move to a less luminous part of the room, but we are powerless to scorch your light. Voices rise to distract from your daintiness. The people scream and yell, come and go, but they are incapable of stealing your glory, let alone catch its shadow bouncing off the walls and chipping at the faces of guests. It is you oh Chandelier. You who remains steadfast and immovable, yet moving. Silent, and yet you sing. Fragile, and yet strong. Beautiful, and yet delicate. Modest, and yet shinning.

We Can Move Mountains

Huge mountains
and great hills
they tower above our heads
like father’s to sons
the intimidating weight
of experience
to our youth
like a mother’s instruction
heavy with discipline
is the carved stone
the frightening rock
but it is true
we can move mountains
if we tried
if we faith-ed
one pebble at a time
one pen to a rhyme
one stuttering syllable
and leaking ink
we scatter mustard seeds
and stumbling blocks
like children at play
except
there are no toys
no plastic dolls
or wind up cars
just similes
and metaphors
passing pebbles
and conquering mountains

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Because It’s Right

Welcome to another segment of Writers Quote Wednesday as hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading. Today, I take my inspiration from someone I rarely speak about. I rarely speak about him, not because he wasn’t important, but because I try to speak about people we may be less familiar with and this man, well, we are all familiar with his name.

She reads the bible but does not go to Church. She’s not a Christian.
She doesn’t eat pork but does not call on Allah. She’s not Muslim.
She speaks of black identity but shows love to all men.
She’s not Afrocentricity.
She says the Egyptians were black but she’s not Egyptology.
She says the Israelites were black but she’s not Jewish.
She advocates for positive change. She’s not political.
She’s not….she’s not…she’s not…..

People will always try and figure you out. Why do you say the things that you do? Why do you speak the way that you speak? This quote is a reminder that sometimes there is no agenda. Sometimes truth must be spoken not because it is political. Not because it is religious. Not because it is in popular demand but because it is right. I speak the truth simply because the truth is always right no matter who says it.

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