Poems for the heart mind and soul

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 hold 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 hatefulness,
But still,like air,I'll ride

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 Shane
I ride
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 beside nights of terror and fear
I ride
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I ride
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise.
I rise.
I rise.