Inspiring Poem “Still I Rise” By Maya Angelou

I read this poem “Still I Rise” years ago when I was much younger and started to develop a taste for the poetry of all kinds. This poem stood out for its sheer defiance tone against the oppression of all kinds. I really liked the self-confident manner of the poet, her resilience tone is inspiring indeed.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread 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.

Poet Maya Angelou published several collections of poetry. But she is famous for her acclaimed memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and her most famous was 1971’s collection “Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die” was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Inspiring poem by an Inspiring writer.

I rise!

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Photo by Mahir Uysal on Unsplash.