Still+I+Rise

Still I Rise Maya Angelou 1978

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod 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? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Bowed head and lowered eyes? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Shoulders falling down like teardrops. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Weakened by my soulful cries.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Does my haughtiness offend you? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Don't you take it awful hard <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Diggin' in my own back yard.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">You may shoot me with your words, <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">You may cut me with your eyes, <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">You may kill me with your hatefulness, <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">But still, like air, I'll rise.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Does my sexiness upset you? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Does it come as a surprise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">That I dance like I've got diamonds <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">At the meeting of my thighs?

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Out of the huts of history's shame <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Up from a past that's rooted in pain <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Leaving behind nights of terror and fear <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I am the dream and the hope of the slave. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I rise.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Accessed at: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/still-i-rise/