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.