Maya Angelou
African-American poet, memoirist, actress, director, and civil rights activist.
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.
There is nothing so pitiful as a young cynic because he has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.
We are missing Michael.
But we do know we had him, and we are the world.
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
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?
Love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
A Brave and Startling Truth.
Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.
Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.
He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.
Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.
He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.
When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.
People will forget what you said
People will forget what you did
But people will never forget how you made them feel.
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.
You were a precious pearl
How I loved to see you shine,
You were the perfect girl.
And you were mine.
For a time.
For a time.
Just for a time.
I am capable of what every other human is capable of. This is one of the great lessons of war and life.
Petulant priests, greedy
centurions, and one million
incensed gestures stand
between your love and me.
We grow despite the
horror that we feed
upon our own
tomorrow.
We grow.
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.
It is possible and imperative that we discover
A brave and startling truth.