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 oil Wells , Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like sun's With 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 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 

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

These are some of the extract from the poem by Maya Angelou . To read the complete poem just Google Still I Rise.  

One of the highlights of this poem is the simplicity of it. With no big words whose meaning we don't understand or we have to rush to the dictionary for it . It seems like a song which has a wonderful rhythm and flow to it . A poem with deep meaning .

Considering the recent Black Lives Matter protests going on in America this poem has still so much significance .

Not only in America in our own country where there is lack of trust among various communities this poem is equally relevant.

Also at an individual level it has importance. How an individual even after facing so many hardships can still rise . Irrespective of the troubles one faces to still have the motivation and the determination to rise .

As the the author rightly points out -

You may shoot me with your words ,

You may cut me with your eyes ,

You may kill with your hatefulness , But still , like air , I'll rise