Winnie Mandela Rest in Peace and Power

(Haven’t blogged in so long, dissertation writing took over…still the news of Winnie Mandela’s passing hits hard. I immediately thought of Alice Walker’s Poem, “Winnie Mandela We Love You” see excerpts below)

Winnie Mandela

We love you.

If we had known you in a time of peace

we would have loved your peacefulness

your quiet so deep

it did not hear

the call

to fight.

We missed our chance.

Winnie Mandela

We love you.

In a time of war

we love your ferocity.

We love your vigilance.

We love your impatience

with killers

and charlatans.

We love your hatred

of the deaths of our people.

We love your hatred of despair.

Winnie Mandela

We love you.

We love your beauty.

We love your style.

We love your hats,

scarves

and various lengths of hair.

we love the passion in your body.

The fury in your eyes.

When you smile

We are amazed…

(from “Winnie Mandela We Love You” in Alice Walker’s collection: Her Blue Body Everything We know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1991)