Rise

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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.

Maya Angelou

For

Paint Party Friday

You might be thinking the reason why I chose a geisha to illustrate Maya Angelou's poem. Well, first because people still expect women to behave according to some paradigms here as if our gender could define us and who/what we are. Second because I love Memoirs of a Geisha which is by far one of the best films I have ever seen. Third because my best friend during my teenager and youth years was Japanese. She passed away some time ago. All those ladies taught me to be strong and rise so...

Hope you rise whenever you stumble and fall. Here lies the magic of life: your capacity of rebirth.

Have a magical 2015!

Karla

Poetic Postcards