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.

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

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up form a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

Im 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 thats 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!