I'Ll Rise

You may write me down in history With ur bitter, twisted lies, You may trod on me in the dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sauciness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Because I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like Suns With the certainity of tides, Just like hopes springing high. Still I'll rise. Do 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 Because I laugh like I've got gold mines 'Diggin' in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may Pierce me with your eyes, You may kill me with disdain but still, like air, I'll rise. 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.