The promise
of emptiness
Is no reward for
the miles you
Walked
on daggers.

i told myself
not to fall in love,
never to fall
in love.

but then you cupped
my hands,
my freezing hands,
against you,
and breathed warm air
into them.

you brushed
my hair out of my
eyes and looked into
them like you were
looking for pieces
of my shattered soul.

your thumbs traced
over my lip lines
and yours curled
into a smile.

you kept me warm
with just your arms,
and your lips
pressed against
my cheek.

and for a moment,
we were one,
and i let myself
fall.

and in the morning,
you were gone,
and i was reminded
of why i couldn’t let
myself fall
in the first place.

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 **** 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.

What happens when your ink across my skin runs dry,
Does it stain or does it fade?
I hope I am etched into your memory the way you are carved into my skin,
Pull me closer darling you are my darkest sin,
In your silence you have said more than your tongue ever could,
You've marked my life by making memories in every place we have stood,
So I ask myself how is it that you free yourself from chains that are dragging you under,
Open your eyes and realize that you have within you the power of thunder,
Dear sweet darling, my greatest deceiver I hope you learn to make haste,
Otherwise your sins shall catch up and I hope you like how misery tastes.