I Will Smile Poem by Sierra Staten

She rose from pain so blue and bruised,
She hadn't the strength left to choose,
Her tearful face was lifted high,
She threw a challenge to the sky:
'I will not be trampled down
I will stand, I will not drown.'

Her bleeding lips had caught the rain,
The world wouldn't say her name,
She stood upon her own two feet,
Said in her voice so strong and sweet:
'I won't pay the price of hate,
I will stand and go further straight'

She caught a memory in the wind,
It wove her virtue tight within,
Her heart was beating fierce and loud,
She screamed in triumph to the crowd:
'I'll never lose the will to live
I've taken what you wouldn't give
You've laughed at me, when all the while,
I have lived, and I have smiled.'