If you want to hide something…
On the 13th of march 2008
Walking down a bridge from Braamfontein to Johannesburg
I was mugged
They gripped me by the neck from behind
The night labourers
They emptied my pockets
Of my wallet and cellphone
But left my notebook and pen
In an act of unconscious generosity
Foolish me I was to think later
I should have hidden my wallet and cellphone
In my notebook
Or better still
I should have hidden myself
Behind my lines
March 21st, 2008 at 9:36 am
as horrible as that experience was, your soul is contained within that notebook than in any other material possession.
still, you have my empathy, and..
Still I Rise
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.
Maya Angelou
March 21st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
your book contain left hooks
a flurry of blows to the head
..your book contain more revolutionar calls and hopes and dreams
than the value of your money lost..paradise lost
regained in the lines of your own truth..
rise and speak and be spoken..to..
jus be thankful for what you got,
your life..
a more than generous act
of your muggers..
stand tall.