I RISE

 

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.

Maya Angelou

I was There. After all these years, all THAT still lies fully formed in a pool at the bottom of my broken heart ready to burst into a white hot fury of anger for Justice. ‘Bitter?’ you say. No not bitter. Stand in my shoes and watch thousands of your friends, brothers and sisters die the most terrible of deaths, while families, mothers, fathers brothers and sisters stand judgmentally by and abandon you. Lie alone, afraid and find your prayers not gathered in by an absent god, whose preachers justify suffering because you are gay. Watch the great leaders of the day stand silent because after all, ‘It’s just the fags.’ Listen to the jokes of condescension and wonder if you should buy a gun, because you never know when you might lie broken on a concrete curb by bigots having fun.

NOTE: To the haters and bigots. We rose, we thrive and we will fight you to the death!