At today’s memorial service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center in Los Angeles, actress and musician Queen Latifah read “We Had Him,” a poem by Maya Angelou about the pop icon. Here’s one YouTube link to the poem.

The poem initiated a cascade of Twitter posts, as the author of the classic book, “I Know why the Caged Bird Sings,” shared her admiration for Jackson. Until a full clip of the poem is posted online, GalleyCat has collected a few Twitter-ed excerpts from the tribute poem. “He was ours and we are his,” wrote Angelou.

“We were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing. He gave us all he had been given,” she continued. “We do know we had him and we are the world,” the poem concluded.