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Catherine L. Johnson
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She,
In the dark,
Found light
Brighter than many ever see.
She,
Within herself,
Found loveliness,
Through the soul’s own mastery.
And now the world receives
From her dower:
The message of the strength
Of inner power.
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Langston Hughes
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CONNIE CATES SHELLA
5 September 1954 – 23 January 2019
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/indianapolis-in/connie-shella-8138040
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AWEwoman.
I can see her as a child,
my cousin,
with her
long platinum brown hair falling
below her shoulders,
a quiet regal presence
and
a graceful ballerina demeanor.
Astonishing, to me.
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I knew her
as a woman
who was luminous,
grace,
fierce
in her determination
to
endure,
transcend
and
prevail.
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Her opened heart was
a July ruby bloom,
a maternal warm nest,
a safe hearth.
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Connie,
my “cousin-sister”,
a Queen,
who invited,
welcomed
and
upheld truth-telling,
elegant dignity
and
lived the deep sea courage
of
unfathomable loving,
boundless hope,
with
a heartfire
that shined kind tenderness,
remarkable resilience
and
radiant beauty.
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My cousin’s
soul
spiraled, soared tonight *
escaping her knotted coiled body
and,
in her last exhale,
a bright star
was created
in the vault
of
the
night sky.
* Wednesday, 23 January 2019
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Connie Cates Shella,
my beloved unrepeatable cousin,
your radiance lives forever
in my heart beat.
https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2019/01/27/847-she-in-the-dark-found-light-brighter-than-many-ever-see-connie-cates-shella-5-september-1954-23-january-2019/
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CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 