You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like
d
u
s
t
,
I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pum
pi
n
g i
n m
y livi
ng
room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
S
t
i
l
l
I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
W
e
a
k
e
n
e
d 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
D
i
g
i
n
’
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
a
i
r
,
I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset
y
o
u
?
Does it come as a surprise
That I
d
a
n
c
e
like I've got diamonds
At the
m
e
e
t
i
n
g
of my thighs?
O
u
t
of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
U
p
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
I
n
t
o
a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I
r
i
s
e
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.