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 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 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.