You
may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
           You                                           may          t  r  o d        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

P
         u        m 
                                p
                                                    i
                                                                     n
                                                                                             g

in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes

 s
          p
                   r
                              i
        n
                      g
         in
             g

high,
Still
                                                                     I'll rise.

Did
        you
want to see me

b
              r
                         o
                  k
                                                    e
                                                                               n?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders

                         f  a
                                      l
                            l i
                  n
                        g

              d
       o
   w
n

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 backyard.

           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

r
    i
        s
             e.

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,      l    e         a         p       i      n     g     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

                            r
                                                i
                                                                    s
                                                                                        e



I rise.