Still I Rise
An icon passed away yesterday. Author, Poet, Civil Rights Activist -Phenomenal Woman - Dr. Maya Angelou.
Her poems and books inspire courage and more importantly in my mind, Self Love. She wrote from an African American perspective; but I'm sure we agree her words spoke to ALL, women, men, young, and old, everyone could relate.
I'm in tears thinking about her passing. Tears of sadness for the legend we lost, tears of joy and pride for the legacy she left behind. In honor of Ms. Angelou I'm posting a video of her reciting - Still I Rise. Just hearing this will lift your spirits and remind you that you are stronger than your haters, naysayers, and even your own doubts. No matter the challenge - You Rise.
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou, 1928 - 2014
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 backyard.
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.
