Maya Angelou - His Day Is Done (A Tribute To Nelson Mandela) video & transcript

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a video of Dr. Maya Angelou's spoken word tribute to South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013).

A transcription of this spoken word trbute is also provided in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, historical, educational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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FEATURED VIDEO: His Day is Done - A Tribute Poem for Nelson Mandela by Dr. Maya Angelou



U.S. Department of State, Published on Dec 6, 2013

Video message delivered by Dr. Maya Angelou on behalf of the American people in memory of Nelson Mandela.

To view this video with captions in Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Hausa, Portuguese, Russian, Sesotho, Setswana, Spanish, Swahili, Wolof, Xhosa, or Zulu, please visit http://goo.gl/h6OeJC.

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TRANSCRIPT OF "HIS DAY IS DONE"
(Maya Angelou)

His day is done.
Is done.
The news came on the wings of a wind
reluctant to carry its burden.
Nelson Mandela’s day is done.

The news expected and still unwelcome reached us in the United States
and suddenly our day became somber.
Our skies were leadened.
His day is done.

We see you South African people,
standing speechless at the slamming of that final door through which
no traveler returns.
Our spirits reach out to you – Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, Boer.
We think of you and your son of Africa,
your father, your one more wonder of the world.
We send our souls to you as you reflect upon your David,
armed with a mere stone.
facing down the mighty Goliath.
Your man of strength,
Gideon emerging triumphant
although born in the brutal embrace of apartheid,
scarred by the savage atmosphere of racism,
unjustly imprisoned in the bloody maws of South African dungeons.
Would the man survive?
Could the man survive?

His answer strengthened men and women around the world.
In the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas,
on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco,
in Chicago’s Loop
in New Orleans’ Mardi Gras,
in New York City’s Time Square,
we watched as the hope of Africa
sprang through the prison’s doors,
his stupendous heart intact,
his gargantuan will hale and hearty.
He had not been crippled by brutes,
nor was his passion for the rights of human beings
diminished by twenty-seven years of imprisonment.
Even here, in America, we felt the cool, refreshing breeze
of freedom when Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency
in his country where formerly
he was not even allowed to vote.

We were enlarged by tears of pride
as we saw Nelson Mandela‘s former prison guards invited, courteously,
by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration.

We saw him accept the world’s award in Norway
with the grace and gratitude of the Solon
in ancient Roman courts
and the confidences of African chiefs
from ancient royal stools.

No sun outlasts its sunset.
But, it will rise again and bring the dawn.

Yes, Mandela’s day is done.
Yet we, his inheritors,
will open the gates wider for reconciliation.
And we will respond generously
to the cries of Blacks and Whites,
Asians, Hispanics,
the poor who live piteously on the floor of our planet.
He has offered us understanding.
We will not withhold forgiveness
even from those who do not ask.

Nelson Mandela’s day is done.
We confess it in tearful voices.
Yet we lift our own to say thank you.
Thank you, our Gideon.
Thank you, our David,
our great, courageous man.

We will not forget you.
We will not dishonour you.
We will remember and be glad
that you lived among us,
that you taught us
and that you loved us
all.
-snip-
This transcription is from the copy of this video that was published online with English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTtufDpX1SA&list=PLmpmr41LhUA-ploCCn_OO0JzK49hOoejF&index=5

The background music for this spoken word video is the Gospel song "Oh Happy Day" which was composed by Edwin Hawkins.

Read my comment below about the use of the word "Bantu" in this spoken word composition.

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Thank you Dr. Maya Angelou for this eloquently written and spoken tribute to Nelson Mandela. My thanks to Madiba Nelson Mandela for his life's legacy. Thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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RIP Mandiba Nelson Mandela!