I was asked to give the keynote graduation speech to an amazing group of young women. Teen mothers have fought an uphill battle to graduate this spring. For the entire week I have been battling writing the keynote address. I find myself wordless to help inspire these young women who instead, inspire me so. I searched for inspiration this week but found only condescending thoughts that seemed too absurd to throw at these strong souls.
Alas, as always, I have found inspiration in the woman who has always done so uniquely and elegantly, Maya Angelou. And so after a few readings of the following poem I am feeling enlightened to complete my speech. Here’s the poem. How can you not walk away feeling proud and strong after reading that?
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
