Such a simple and propound quote. Three words can really cause us to stand or sit a bit taller.

 We all have a story to tell. We all have faced oppression, suppression in different ways at various points in our lives, which have brought us to our knees, be it literally or figuratively.

At those times, when we feel as if we have nothing, and have hit some version of rock bottom, from somewhere, there is a resolve which allows us to continue: to wipe our tears, dust ourselves off, nurse our battle scars, and to find some way of moving on.

 

Today’s quote is also the title of a poem, which we have included in full below. Dr Angelou’s protagonist is strong and defiant, and grounded in who she is. Lord knows we may not always feel like that, but that ought to be the goal: to live fully In our truth, and in the fullness of our being.

 

 

Best wishes, and have a great day!

 

 

—–

Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod 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 backyard.

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.