Maya Angelou (4 April 1928)
Still I Rise
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?
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.
Read poems about / on: history, dance, ocean, dream, fear, hope, pain, rose, spring
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Maya Angelou

This poem is my favorite. she teaches me to stand in minority. no matter how people around you are kicking you down. but, i have to rise up for the hope is real.
thanks Dr Maya Angelou, for teaching us an equality.
in the 5th stanza the second line should have contain an interrogation sign (?) and she uses or misuses 'eyes ' more than needed...thanks
Such a poem full of simplicity! A song of lifting from persecution and oppression. I rise I rise I rise. Words of hope indeed... Maya sweet poem
great! .................
good Inspiration and good poet
yes still i rise..nice word..
They hated and blasphemed Jesus but still he rose and so shall anyone else sleep or awake in Christ. Although we are persecuted and hated, we have hope. He is sure to return so be ready.
How uplifting these words can be to the soul!
This poem really touched my heart nothing better except for the feeling of head
best poem since hop on pop by Dr.sues.hands down.