You
may take me out of history
With your swift averted eyes
You may cut me from your family
But still, like mist, I’ll rise.
Does
my attitude upset you?
Is that why you leave the room?
‘Cause I roll along quite happy
And refuse to live in gloom.
Just
like cakes and biscuits,
Baking next to bread and pies,
Just like flowers springing up,
Still I’ll rise.
Did
you want to see me humbled?
By the insults and the lies?
Crushed down by all the prejudice,
Living in complete disguise?
Does
my joy and strength offend you?
Does it make you want to glare?
‘Cause I sit like I’ve got jewels
Studded all across my chair.
You
may wound me with your words,
You may taunt me with your cries,
You may troll me on the internet,
But still, like heat, I’ll rise.
Does
my sexiness disgust you?
Does it come as a surprise
That my body works like yours does
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out
of the wards of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a life that is lived in pain
I rise
I am a comet, dancing up high,
Sparkling and shooting I tear through the sky.
Leaving
behind nights of long suffering
I rise
Into the new day that’s brightly dawning
I rise
Bearing the Pride that my forerunners gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the brave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
