Still I Rise

This poem needs no introduction, it’s a masterpiece by Dr. Maya Angelou with a mighty and powerful message.  No one, I mean no one can take your value from you.  Some might even try to erase you from your own history, but like air, you will rise above anything that’s done to prevent you from conquering.  You may be trodden in the dirt, but still, like dust, you will rise.

He who is within you is greater than he that’s in the world.  You have a calling upon your life, you are a child of the King.  Your God, our Father is a way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who You are.

Still I Rise

by: Dr. Maya Angelou

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 shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

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 dance 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

I rise.