I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou

The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wings

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

Even Such Is Time by Sir Walter Raleigh

Even such is time, that takes in trust


Our youth, our joys, our all we have,


And pays us but with earth and dust;


Who, in the dark and silent grave,

When we have wandered all our ways,

Shuts up the story of our days.


But from this earth, this grave, this dust,


My God shall raise me up, I trust.

Image via Wikipedia

I cry by Tupac Shakur

Sometimes when I'm alone
I cry,
Cause I am on my own.
The tears I cry are bitter and warm.
They flow with life but take no form
I cry because my heart is torn.
I find it difficult to carry on.
If I had an ear to confiding,
I would cry among my treasured friend,
But who do you know that stops that long,
To help another carry on.
The world moves fast and it would rather pass by.
Then to stop and see what makes one cry,
So painful and sad.
And sometimes...
I cry
And no one cares about why.

Dreams by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams



For if dreams die


Life is a broken-winged bird


That cannot fly.






Hold fast to dreams


For when dreams go


Life is a barren field


Frozen with snow.

STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou

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.


Written by Maya Angelou

Fire & Ice by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire;

Some say in ice.


From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.


But if it had to perish twice,


I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice


Is also great


And would suffice.