R.I.P. Dr. Maya Angelou - May Your Legacy Live On In and Out of Time

R.I.P. Dr. Maya Angelou

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.

- Dr. Maya Angelou

                                                                                  

Today we lost not only a poet, but a legend and an extraordinary woman. R.I.P. Dr. Maya Angelou. May your legacy shine on forever through your work, story, and words. The poem above is one that I literally had taped to my wall for years before my daughter was born. It reminds me to ignore all the negativity and obstacles I encounter and continue to rise above it all. You also stated that "there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you", and I took that to heart. Thank you for giving me the push to tell my own story.