Hi Friends,
Today would have been the 90th birthday of Dr Maya Angelou. She was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. A phenomenal woman that had a huge positive impact on many people's lives. Her work was mostly influenced by the hardships she faced in her early life and the inequalities that existed in society. Unfortunately she passed on in 2014, fortunately though, she left a huge body of work that we can learn from,get inspired and change our lives.She wrote seven autobiographies, three books of essays and several books of poetry. In addition she was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.
Over the years, I have been reading great qoutes from her and heard several people speak highly of her.
Today in her honour I have seen google do an amazing doodle :)
I will share one of her several powerful poems called "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.
Sources: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou