I rise
You may killme with your hatefulness,
Just like moons and like suns,
At the meeting of my thighs?
Does my sassiness upset you?
Did you want to see me broken?
I rise
With your bitter, twisted lies,
Cause I laugh like Ive got gold mines
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
Cause I walk like Ive got oil wells
Does it come as a surprise
Just like hopes springing high,
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
You may cut me with your eyes,
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
You may trod me in the very dirt
Dont you take it awful hard
Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
But still, like dust, Ill rise.
I rise
I rise.
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Out of the huts of historys shame
That I dance like Ive got diamonds
Still Ill rise.
With the certainty of tides,
Im a black ocean, leaping and wide,
You may shoot me with your words,
You may write me down in history
But still, like air, Ill rise.
Pumping in my living room.
Diggin in my own back yard.
Why are you beset with gloom?
Up from a past thats rooted in pain
I rise
I rise
Weakened by my soulful cries.
