'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou (Live performance)

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 just because i walk as if i have oil wells pumping in my living room just like moons and like suns with the certainty of tides just like hope springing high still i rise did you want to see me broken bowed head and lowered eyes shoulders falling down like tear drops weakened by my soulful cries does my sassiness upset you don't take it so hard just cause i laugh as if i have gold mines digging in my own backyard you can shoot me with your words you can cut me with your lies you can kill me with your hatefulness but just like life i rise does my sexiness offend you oh does it come as a surprise that i dance as if i have diamonds at the meeting of my thighs out of the huts of history shame i rise up from a past rooted in pain i rise a black ocean leaping and wide welling and swelling and bearing in the tide leaving behind nights of terror and fear i rise into a daybreak miraculously clear i rise bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave i am the hope and the dream of the slave and so wow there i go [Applause]

Channel: Literature Today - and Yesterday...

Views: 2,760,218

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Id: qviM_GnJbOM

Length: 2min 16sec (136 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 10 2014