Still I Rise

You may write me down in history;
With your bitter, twisted lies;
You may trod me in the very dirt;
But still, like a true champion, I'll rise.

Does my continued victory upset you?
Why does my triumph give you sleepless nights?
Ask your own conscience and you'll get the answer;
Because you want to emulate me but is not able to do so.


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 arrogance offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard;
Because whatever you may say at my back;
I refuse to give a bloody damn?

You may shoot me with your words;
You may cut me with your eyes;
You may kill me with your hatefulness;
But still, like wind, 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
I am the dream and the hope and the future
For whatever be the odds against me
Whomsoever be the one against me
Wherever be the conspiracy against me waged
Still, like an eternal phoenix, from the ashes,
I rise
I rise
I rise.