Friday, April 08, 2005

Still I Rise

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.

From And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.

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Gw liat Maya Angelou membawakan puisi ini di Ensyclopedia Encarta, dan gw langsung suka.
Pas bagian "'Cause I laugh....", dia ketawa. Bikin kita jadi pengen ikut ketawa juga. Puisi ini bikin gw ngerasa kalo apapun yang terjadi, separah apapun gw jatuh, gw pasti bisa bangkit. Gw sebenernya ga suka keliatan kayak cerita2 pemberi inspirasi yang ada di buku-buku bestseller itu. Tapi, beneran deh, buat yang lagi down banget, bacalah puisi ini. Kalo berasa kurang nendang, belilah Ensyclopedia Encarta 2005 dan tontonlah video Maya Angelou ngebacain puisi ini.

3 comments:

iluvnyc said...

very nice poem! :)

Niken said...

pujiannya harusnya diberikan ke maya angelou, ya. Dia yang bikin gitu lho....
Tapi, emang bagus banget ya

iluvnyc said...

i mean... since i'm not speaking to her, so i send the compliment thru you :D... yea, very very nice poem!