Still I Rise

                                             

You may write me down in history

     with your bitter, twisted lies,

You may tread me in the very dirt

     But still, like dust, I'll rise

       Does my sassiness upset you?

    Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

     Pumping in my living room.

    Just like moons and like suns,

      With the certainty of tides,

    Just like hopes springing high,

              Still I'll rise.

 Did you want to see me broken?

   Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

  Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

   Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

     Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

  But still, like air, I'll rise.

   Does my sexiness upset you?

   Does it come as a surprise

That I dare like I've got diamonds

   At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

                       I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

                       I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide,

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

                         I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

                         I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave

                            I rise

                            I rise