The Black Family Pledge Poem by Maya Angelou

The Black Family Pledge

Rating: 4.2


BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors,
our children no longer give us honor.

BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors cleared
kneeling in perilous undergrowth,
our children cannot find their way.

BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors,
our children cannot pray.

BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing,
our children cannot hear us crying.

BECAUSE we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering,
our befuddled children give birth to children
they neither want nor understand.

BECAUSE we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our
gates, an holds us up to the mirror of the world shouting,
'Regard the loveless'

Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our
lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate,
to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things,
knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters.

We ARE our brothers and sisters.

IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues,
and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation, we make this pledge.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Zakir Hussain Haidary 06 January 2017

IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation, we make this pledge.

11 1 Reply
Mya.s 18 January 2018

How wonderful of you to think about others.

4 2 Reply
maya fan 18 April 2018

this is so fantastic i am a very good fan of maya angelou

3 3 Reply
Shirley Dendy 09 May 2018

When was this written? Iwould like to copy and frame this poem. Thank you.

4 2 Reply
Rashmi Gupta 28 August 2018

Your poems are so impactful

5 1 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 27 March 2021

To My favourites and 5 Stars!

1 1 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 27 March 2021

A great poem from a great poetess Maya Angelou! Congratulations for the Modern Poem Of The Day

1 1 Reply
Chinedu Dike 26 March 2021

Profoundly and powerfully penned with conviction.

1 1 Reply
Iris Clarke 07 February 2021

I pledge to do better.

1 1 Reply
Iris Clarke 07 February 2021

Profound.

1 1 Reply
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