Saturday, April 19, 2008

May 31

Here's to powerful, beautiful, gutsy women (like you!)

Still I Rise
-Maya Angelou

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.

2 comments:

Towanda said...

You have such a knack for picking things I love.

This actually expresses really well how I felt last week at the trial, especially when I testified. The female city attorney kept trying to intimidate me and stare me down, but she would always look away. I could not be intimidated.

It was kind of a rush...

Muser Grace said...

I so wish I had been able to see you testify. I can totally imagine that city attorney trying to stare you down--she was obviously iterested in coming off as intimidating--and I can totally imagine you refusing to be cowed. You rock!