Tuesday, April 10, 2007
still I rise
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 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 riseI riseI rise.
© Maya Angelou
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5 comments:
And I thought I wouldn't ever get myself to appreciate English poetry! (Poetry in English language, that is). So wonderful a poem... Thank you for opening a new door for me.
i.
you are welcome mr. i.
Ben Harper has a song based on this poem. It´s beautiful too.
You know what I do when I like a poem very much? I try to translate it. Not just to share it with others, who speak other languages, but mostly for the sake of getting deeper into it, to chew every word, to digest it... and to create it once more.
Hope it doesn't bother you. There it goes.
Puedes inscribirme en la historia
Con amargas mentiras, pero sé
Que aunque me pisotees en el fango
Como polvo me levantaré.
¿Te fastidia que sea tan insolente?
¿Por qué te asedia la desazón?
Yo camino como si tuviera pozos
de petróleo en mi salón.
Como las lunas y como el sol,
Cierta como la pleamar,
Como las esperanzas que brincan alto
Me volveré a levantar.
¿Querías verme destruida
Cabizbaja, los ojos marchitos?
Hombros como lágrimas caídos
En el alma, débiles gritos.
¿Te ofende que sea tan altiva?
No respondas de esta manera.
Porque yo río como si en mi patio
Minas de oro tuviera.
Me puedes disparar con tus palabras.
Con tus ojos me puedes cortar.
Me puedes matar con tu odio, pero
Como aire, me volveré a levantar.
¿Te fastidia que yo sea tan sexy?
¿Te sorprende de veras
Que baile como si tuviera diamantes
En donde se juntan mis caderas?
De las chozas de la vergüenza de la historia
Me levantaré
De un pasado arraigado en los dolores
Me levantaré
Yo, océano negro de saltos salvajes
Marea que crece y se mece en los oleajes
Dejo atrás noches de pánico y terror
Me levantaré.
Hacia un amanecer sin temor
Me levantaré.
Los dones de mis ancestros los traigo hoy.
El sueño de los esclavos y su esperanza soy.
Me levantaré, levantaré, levantaré.
Thanks for the translation!
You're most welcome. Sometimes I just can't avoid re-creating a poem in another language. I'm happy to see that you've put it even on your frontpage. Hope others may enjoy it, too.
i.
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