Exalted Lyrics

Devotion Suite

Exalted

No matter what you call her

Mother, sister, cousin, aunt, grandmother, wife, partner, friend, distant relative

Personal or business associate, neighbor, lawyer, teacher/professor, nurse, doctor

Or other appellation, having a genuinely conscientious woman in your life is a godsend

We light a candle in honor of the people who raised us

Who gave us life especially our mothers who carried us in their wombs

Beverly Lynette Perry-Leath and Belinda Diane Staten Womack

They are gone but ever with us in spirit

Their greatest lesson

Never allow what you do not have keep you from using what you do have

Equally cosmic and brilliant as their male counterparts, Saundra Pearl Sharp quips there are hundreds of millions of indigenous women on planet Earth

Where did she come from

All parts of the globe you see

Take a walk with me through history

Keep playing your music, Cool-Daddy-C

Names by which the indigenous is known

Lucy, Eve, mitochondrial mother of all humanity

In 2500 BC, Mohenja-Daro as Harrapan

Thirty to forty thousand years ago, Grimaldi, the Venus of Wilendorf

Five-thousand years ago, Dravidian then eventually Anu/Ani, Colchian, Negrito, Black Dwarf

South of the Yangtze River

Bestowing her presence from Guinea to Curacao

The beauty bank

Think plants and natural creativity, beads, stones, wood

Authentic hairstyles, body bedecked in color with pizazz

Accessories, sandals, attire for her daily activities

And, to protect her head from the sun she even made the first wig

Kemetic Queen Tiye in 1300s BC a style adopted

By the Nubian Kandace Amanirenes then eventually referred to as drum shapes

To cultivate the beauty of her spirit, she developed the use of oils and perfumes

To stimulate her bountiful mind, she studied the mysteries, taught philosophy

Ran and counseled governments, kept libraries and served as priestesses

Makeda, Weletta Mikael, Zewditu, Empress Menen Asfaw, Yaa Asantewa

Whether she was known as a witch, a wife, or a warrior

She has wielded power through strategic marriages, matriarchal systems, the military and magic

Zhara of Sudan, Nehanda of Zimbabwe, Women's Army of Dahomey, Wolloa of Tasmania

Harriet Tubman of the United States of America, Mama Panza of Suriname, Zeferina of Brazil

Movers and "Shakers" taking care of business

Biddy Mason, Maggie Lena Walker, Madame C.J. Walker, now Oprah Winfrey

You see, true divas do not die because their influence ever multiplies

Inventor (Mary Jane Reynolds) continues to Up-Lift

Says Dr. Mona Lake Jones, a room full of sisters is like jewels in a crown

Vanilla, cinnamon, and dark chocolate brown

I add that shining among the rest is Vice-President Kamala D. Harris

Now imagine yourselves standing in their glory

As you, irrespective of your pronoun, become and live the legacy of their stories