azurelunatic | Fwd: happy poem

TO A PHENOMENAL WOMAN
(originally, but this seems to be mangled) by Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days,
I weighed a few pounds less,
I needn't hold my tummy in
to wear a belted dress.

But now that I am older,
I've set my body free;
There's comfort of elastic
Where once my waist would be.

Inventor of those high-heeled shoes
My feet have not forgiven;
I have to wear a nine now,
But used to wear a seven.

And how about those pantyhose--
They're sized by weight, you see,
So how come when I put them on
The crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses
As the print's been getting smaller;
And it wasn't very long ago
I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned to gray
and my skin no longer fits,
On the inside, I'm the same old me,
It's the outside's changed a bit.

(we think the mangling comes in here)

But, on a positive note...

I've learned that no matter what happens,
or how bad it seems today,
life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by
the way he/she handles these three things:
a rainy day, lost luggage, and
tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with
Your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone
from your life.

I've learned that making a "living" is not the same
thing as making a "life."

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second
chance.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a
catcher's mitt on both hands.
You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an
open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have
to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and
touch someone.
People love a warm hug,
or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...the attribution is true. It's by Maya Angelou, who was once (is still?) the US Poet Laureate. With good reason.

Oh, good.

I have Bad Feelings about internet-bounced poems with famous attributions that I'm not personally familiar with, just on general principle.

And, um, I just looked at the poem again. I'm pretty sure it's *not* "Phenomenal Woman". It has a Maya Angelou feel, but...

You've got access to a college library, right? Most poetry collections have an index by first line. I have the feeling this is a (possibly mangled) Maya Angelou poem. Check library books?

(I'm increasingly weirded out by googling for poems after I googled for one of my favorites ("Reading the Brothers Grimm to Jenny", Liesel Mueller) and found only a page where someone had posted "her very own poetry". The poem had a few lines from Grimm, a few lines from another poem I recognized, and probably more plagarism from other poetry. And it was a *bad* hack-together. Grumph.)

That's what I was thinking.

I wouldn't be surprised if the part up to "But, on a positive note..." is a Maya Angelou poem, maybe somewhat mangled. The feel changes significantly at that point, though.

The game of googling for a poem (or other piece of knowledge) and then trying to figure out how trustworthy the sites you've found are is always fun...

DeVry College of Knowledge has a little Internet Site Trustworthiness Validation Form for us to fill out whenever getting information off the 'Net for use in research papers.

It does change there. Wonder if the whole thing just had some formatting loss...

Fwd: happy poem

dunno if this is what you were asking...

Re: dunno if this is what you were asking...

bad feelings

Re: bad feelings

no subject

no subject