You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies
You may tres 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 am waking like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room

Just like moons and like stars
With the certainty of tides
Just like hopes springing high
Still I rise

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling like teardrops
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness upset you?
Don’t take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my backyard

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 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
Out from a past that’s rooted in pain
I Rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide
Welling and swelling I bear the tide

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I Rise
Into daybreak that’s wonderfully clear
I Rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave
I am the dream and the hope of the slave

I Rise
I Rise
I Rise