I rise

My Friday started with prayers at the Kwan Yin temple on Waterloo St before lunching with my girls, Kels Ana and Mick. Mick, a.k.a Killer Line is known for her wits and wicked sense of humor so it was fun to catch up with her and hear all about her New Year's adventures in New Zealand.

Our dear friend, and my personal Guru Yvette, was giving a Golden Light celebration workshop there as well as awaiting the birth of her first child with Barney.
Isis joined us here on Earth on the 9th Jan 2010 and she is a miracle in herself.
Mick had stories to tell us and Kels and I enthusiastically listened and absorbed NZ and it's power.
I would love to visit Barney and Yvy real soon. The only time I've visited New Zealand was when I was 4 yrs old and what I remember is vast landscapes, clean fresh air, lots of sheep, snug winter clothes, the Abhominable Snowman (that's another story in itself) and looking forward to fresh glass jars of milk on our motel doorstep every morning. For a 4 yr old, that's heaps.

So I stumble upon a Leonard Cohen poem the other day and have not been able to stop thinking about it. About how it spoke to me and brought me back to a certain memory.
And in true form, I went in search of more poetry. To inspire me.
And this is the next one I found, written by another one of my favorite poets....

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

So be it.