People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered

Forgive them anyway

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway

If you are honest and frank, people my cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway

What you spend years building, someone could destroy over night;

Build anyway

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway

The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It never was between you and them anyway

Whimsical textures overlapping symphonies

Hence the dancing sonnets illuminated by the mind

Ending ever after, transcending giving birth to eloquence

Nostalgic embers flickering sending literary signals

Enticing the body, evoking the spirit, drifting, you and I

Moments of pleasure wrapped up in time

Omnipotence undulating, balls of light

Touching every aspect of creation

Internal, external, anatomical planes of ecstasy

Originating from within

Nascency planting seeds of revelry

Amplified by words of penetration

New and old blend in one equation

Dripping with vapors of obscurity

Pondering the beginning of words

And questioning the end

Puzzled by such artistry, in awe of possibilities

Eradicating dysphoria with words as weapons

Repercussions go unseen by only untrained eyes

Collisions perplex the interweaving of movement

Only to find peace where time stands still

Luminous vibrations visible to the artistic hand

Lost in translation

Interpreting its structure to suit my needs

Dollops of emotion splashed across a page

Ending in magnitudes of Apollo

Written by

This is one of my favorite pieces ever, and I do not believe that this poem only applies to African Americans, but any individual who can draw strength from it…

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

A Woman Should Have…

enough money in her control to move out and rent a place on her own, even if she never wants to or needs to.

A Woman Should Have…

something perfect to wear if the employer, or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour.

A Woman Should Have…

a youth she’s content to leave behind.

A Woman Should Have…

a past juicy enough that she’s looking forward to retelling it in her old age.

A Woman Should Have…

a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra

A Woman Should Have…

one friend who always makes her laugh and one who lets her cry.

A Woman Should Have…

a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family.

A Woman Should Have…

eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored.

A Woman Should Have…

a feeling of control over her destiny.

Every Woman Should Know…

how to fall in love without losing herself.

Every Woman Should Know…

how to quit a job, break up with a lover and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

Every Woman Should Know…

when to try harder, and when to walk away.

Every Woman Should Know…

that she can’t change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents.

Every Woman Should Know…

that her childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.

Every Woman Should Know…

what she would or wouldn’t do for love or more.

Every Woman Should Know…

how to live alone even if she doesn’t like it.

Every Woman Should Know…

whom she can trust, whom she can’t and why she shouldn’t take it personally.

Every Woman Should Know…

where to go, be it to her best friends kitchen table, or a charming Inn in the woods when her soul needs soothing.

Every Woman Should Know…

what she can and can’t accomplish in a day…month…and a year…

–Maya Angelou

—————————————————————————————————————————–

When I cannot look at your face
I look at your feet.
Your feet of arched bone,
your hard little feet.
I know that they support you,
and that your sweet weight
rises upon them.
Your waist and your breasts,
the doubled purple
of your nipples,
the sockets of your eyes
that have just flown away,
your wide fruit mouth,
your red tresses,
my little tower.
But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.

–Pablo Neruda