Ayodele Ayoola
I WALK DOWN THE STREET
AND GUESS WHO I MEET
THE MEN IN BLUE WHO SUPPOSED TO DEFEND
BUT INSTEAD THEY CHOSE TO APPREHEND
THEY SLAP, PUNCH, CHOKE ME RED
THEY WON’T STOP TILL I END UP DEAD
OH STOP! PLEASE? I CAN’T BREATHE!
I BEG OF YOU, JUST GO, AND LEAVE!
MY CRIES ALL DISAPPEAR OUT OF SIGHT
I’LL END UP DEAD IF I TRY TO FIGHT
HIS KNEE IS UP AGAINST MY THROAT
NO ONE CAN STOP HIM, THEY ALL TOO REMOTE
MY GOD, WHAT COUNTRY DO I CALL THIS
A NATION WHERE THE POPO CAN JUST GO BLISS
AT MY EXPENSE, I KID YOU NOT!
I’LL BE BEAT, STEPPED ON, OR EVEN SHOT!
THIS NONSENSE MUST STOP, BUT COURSE IT WON’T
ALL I CAN DO IS SCREAM PLEASE DON’T!
AS I BLEED HERE LYING DEAD ON THE FLOOR
I KNOW I AIN’T WELCOMED HERE NO MORE
THE PROTECTORS FAIL TO PROTECT US
FAILED TO SERVE
AT LEAST ME
AT LEAST MY FAMILY
MY PIGMENT MAKES A WHITE WOMAN CLUTCH HER PURSE WHEN I GO BY
ALL I TRIED TO SAY WAS HI
SHE CAN TURN MY GREETING [ACKNOWLEDGEMENT] INTO AN ALLEGATION
THEN HERE COME THOSE BOYS IN BLUE
THOSE WHO REFUSE TO LIVE BY THE TRUTH
THEY SERVICE A GOVERNMENT THAT BELIEVES I BELONG IN A CAGE.
MENACE 2 SOCIETY
TO A PIG SIX FEET UNDER IS WHERE I SHOULD BE
YOU STEP ON MY BROTHERS NECKS WHILE GUNNING DOWN MY SISTERS
YOU SHOOT ME IN MY FRONT YARD
I’ll Rise, I’ll Rise, I’ll RiseYou 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 backyard.
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.
Explanation:
