I Rise Pledge

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 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 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.

-Maya Angelou

My New Year's Pledge

I am making a pledge to myself to rise high and go beyond. No longer shall I believe the lies of an immature teenage boy or take heed to envious young ladies who only wish to break me. The lines of a principal telling me to settle for less because I could never afford to be educated at a private institution will continue to rewind, but someday I will be able to flash my degree and say, “Ha ha indeed I rise.” Truth is, only I can break me because I make me rise. I shall continue to make my dreams my realities because I will touch the sky. I shall not make other people’s problems my own; yet help as much as I can. I shall learn to harmonize with myself so I may have a peaceful mind. I will continue to be courageous, generous, balanced, happy, ambitious, and wise.
I rise.
I rise.
I rise.