Poem

I love this poem by Maya Angelou. It has always been one of my favorites. A tip of the biretta to D for a new reminder of this.

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 rise I rise I rise.

A poem for Emma

Barring a miracle, Emma will be leaving Emmanuel and me for a new home on June 18th.



Emma

god came to me in the form of a child
in a most unexpected way and time

she cooed and she cried
her smile brightened my life

i was affected in ways i never imagined
and my life has been changed forever

then just like that
in a flash she is gone

and a hole is left in my heart
empty and void

she will probably never remember me
having been moved to a new home so young

but i will never forget her face
or the love she brought to my life