National Black Poetry Day: "On the Pulse of Morning" by Maya Angelou

Best known for her autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou was also a supremely accomplished poet. Learn these words from "On the Pulse of Morning," which she read at President Clinton's first inaugural in 1993.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. host
    an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite
    A Rock, A River, A Tree
    Hosts to species long since departed,
    Marked the mastodon.
  2. sojourn
    a temporary stay
    The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
    Of their sojourn here
    On our planet floor,
    Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
    Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
  3. hasten
    move fast
    The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
    Of their sojourn here
    On our planet floor,
    Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
    Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
  4. doom
    an unpleasant or disastrous destiny
    The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
    Of their sojourn here
    On our planet floor,
    Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
    Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
  5. destiny
    the ultimate agency predetermining the course of events
    But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
    Come, you may stand upon my
    Back and face your distant destiny,
    But seek no haven in my shadow.
  6. ignorance
    the lack of knowledge or education
    You, created only a little lower than
    The angels, have crouched too long in
    The bruising darkness,
    Have lain too long
    Face down in ignorance.
  7. delicate
    developed with extreme subtlety
    Each of you a bordered country,
    Delicate and strangely made proud,
    Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
  8. perpetually
    everlastingly; for all time
    Each of you a bordered country,
    Delicate and strangely made proud,
    Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
  9. siege
    an action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place
    Each of you a bordered country,
    Delicate and strangely made proud,
    Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
  10. current
    a steady flow of a fluid or gas
    Your armed struggles for profit
    Have left collars of waste upon
    My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
  11. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    Your armed struggles for profit
    Have left collars of waste upon
    My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
  12. clad
    wearing or provided with clothing
    Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
    The Creator gave to me when I and the
    Tree and the stone were one.
  13. cynicism
    a pessimistic feeling of distrust
    Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
    Brow and when you yet knew you still
    Knew nothing.
  14. sear
    become superficially burned (also figurative)
    Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
    Brow and when you yet knew you still
    Knew nothing.
  15. yearning
    prolonged unfulfilled desire or need
    There is a true yearning to respond to
    The singing River and the wise Rock.
  16. privileged
    blessed with special advantages
    So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
    The African and Native American, the Sioux,
    The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
    The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
    The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
    The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
  17. descendant
    a person considered as coming from some ancestor or race
    Each of you, descendant of some passed
    On traveller, has been paid for.
  18. yoke
    link with or as with stable gear joining two draft animals
    Do not be wedded forever
    To fear, yoked eternally
    To brutishness.
  19. horizon
    the line at which the sky and Earth appear to meet
    The horizon leans forward,
    Offering you space to place new steps of change.
  20. mendicant
    a pauper who lives by begging
    No less to Midas than the mendicant.
Created on Wed May 28 09:56:41 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Apr 09 14:07:38 EDT 2019)

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