And I still rise

You may write me down in history

with your bitter, twisted lies,

You may tread me in the very

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 oils wells

pumping in my living room.

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 hand

'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 raise

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meetings 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 dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

Modeling