Poem - Still I Rise by Maya Angelou.

As a writer, poet, reader, content creator and lover of writing, I appreciate a good poem, especially one with a strong message. I love Maya Angelou's work and her beautiful poems, but this one I am sharing with you today is by far my most favorite one. I have had a tough year which has been emotional and going through some personal stuff. But like the phoenix and like this poem says I have still risen up and I always will because I am a fighter and a survivor. So, when things look bleak and your days seem unfortunate and unhappy, turn that frown upside down, smile, walk with your head held up, rise up and start over again!!

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

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. 

Have a great 4th of July weekend everyone! It will be so hot here in Michigan, up to 100 one day. Yikes!!