Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well

Poems

About the Book

This collection of thirty-six poems is, once again, eloquent evidence of Maya Angelou's continuing celebration of life: Here are poems of love and memory; poems of racial confrontation; songs of the street and songs from the heart.
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Excerpt

Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well

Pickin Em Up
and Layin Em Down
 
There’s a long-legged girl
in San Francisco
by the Golden Gate.
She said she’d give me all I wanted
but I just couldn’t wait.
I started to
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
gettin to the next town
Baby.
 
There’s a pretty brown
in Birmingham
Boys, she little and cute
but when she like to tied me down
I had to grab my suit and started to
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
gettin to the next town
Baby.
 
I met that lovely Detroit lady
and thought my time had come
But just before I said “I do”
I said “I got to run” and started to
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
gettin to the next town
Baby.
 
There ain’t no words for what I feel
about a pretty face
But if I stay I just might miss
a prettier one some place
I started to
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
Pickin em up
and layin em down,
gettin to the next town
Baby.
 
Here’s to Adhering
 
I went to a party
out in Hollywood,
The atmosphere was shoddy
but the drinks were good,
and that’s where I heard you laugh.
 
I then went cruising
on an old Greek ship,
The crew was amusing
but the guests weren’t hip,
that’s where I found your hands.
 
On to the Sahara
in a caravan,
The sun struck like an arrow
but the nights were grand,
and that’s how I found your chest.
 
An evening in the Congo
where the Congo ends,
I found myself alone, oh
but I made some friends,
that’s where I saw your face.
 
I have been devoting
all my time to get
Parts of you out floating
still unglued as yet.
 
Won’t you pull yourself together
For
      Me
O N C E
 

About the Author

Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was raised in Stamps, Arkansas. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Heart of a Woman, she wrote numerous volumes of poetry, among them Phenomenal Woman, And Still I Rise, On the Pulse of Morning, and Mother. Maya Angelou died in 2014. More by Maya Angelou
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