Black Ocean

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 Did you want to see me broken Bowed head and lowered eyes Shoulders falling down like teardrops Weakened by my soulful cries 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 haughtiness offend you Don't you take it so hard Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard Out of the huts of history's shame Up from a past that's rooted in pain I'm a black ocean leaping and wide Welling and swelling I bear in the tide I rise I rise I rise Leaving behind nights of terror and fear Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave I am the dream and the hope of the slave I rise I rise I rise