Still i rise

Still i rise

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

Digg in' 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.

Human family

Human family

I note the obvious differences

In the human family.

Some of us are serious,

Some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived

As true profundity,

And others claim they really live

The real reality.

The variety of our skin tones

Can confuse, bemuse, delight,

Brown and pink and beige and purple,

Tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas

And stopped in every land,

I've seen the wonders of the world

Not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women

Called jane and mary jane,

But i've not seen any two

Who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different

Although their features jibe,

And lovers think quite different thoughts

While lying side by side.

We love and lose in china,

We weep on england's moors,

And laugh and moan in guinea,

And thrive on spanish shores.

We seek success in finland,

Are born and die in maine.

In minor ways we differ,

In major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences

Between each sort and type,

But we are more alike, my friends,

Than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,

Than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,

Than we are unalike.

Phenomenal woman

Phenomenal woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when i start to tell them,

They think i'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When i try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

The palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause i am a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I know why the caged bird sings

I know why the caged bird sings

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.

But a bird that stalks

Down his narrow cage

Can seldom see through

His bars of rage

His wings are clipped and

His feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings

With fearful trill

Of the things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill for the caged bird

Sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze

And the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn

And he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings

With a fearful trill

Of things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill

For the caged bird

Sings of freedom.

Hum bhi khud dushman-e-jaan thay pehlay

Hum bhi khud dushman-e-jaan thay pehlay 

Tum magar dost kahan thay pehlay 

Ab wahan khizaan uraati hai khizaan 

Phool hi phool thay jahan pehlay 

Ab jo dewaar banay baithay hain 

Surat-e-moj-e-rawan thay pehlay 

Kuch sharaabi keh hain ab raah nasheen 

Ronq-e-bazam-e-mughaan thay pehlay 

Hum keh hain aaj ghubaar pas-e-ro

Manzil-e-hum'safraan thay pehlay 

Ab keh wazeh-e-mohabbat ka khayal 

Aur hi log yahan thay pehlay 

Ab to khud par bhi nahin zohm-e-wafa 

Tujh se hum shikwa kinaan thay pehlay 

Ban gaya qaafla chaltay chaltay 

Warna tanha hi rawaan thay pehlay 

Doulat-e-gham to myussar thi Faraz 

Itnay muflis bhi kahan thay pehlay

Sagar main sitaray ghull rahay hon jaisay

Sagar main sitaray ghull rahay hon jaisay 

Kirno kay dareechay khull rahay hon jaisay 

Masti main woh uth'ti hui nazrein toba 

Palkon pe zamanay tull rahay hon jaisay

Tum zamana Aashna , tum se zamana Aashna

Tum zamana Aashna , tum se zamana Aashna

Aur hum apnay liye bhi ajnabi Na-Aashna

Raastay bhar ki rafaqat bhi bhout hai jaan-e-man 

Warna manzil par ponch kar kon kis ka aashna 

Ab kay aisi aandhiyan uthein keh suraj bujh gaye 

Haye woh shamm'en keh jhonkon se bhi thein Na-Aashna

Muddatein guzrein usi basti main lakin ab talak 

Log na'waqif , fiza be'gaana , hum na'aashna

Hum bharray shehron main bhi tanha hain janay kis tarah 

Log veerano main kar letay hain paida Aashna

Khalq-e-shabnam kay liye daaman kusha sehraaon main 

Kya khabar abar-e-karam hai sirf dariya Aashna

Apni barbaadi pe kitnay khush thay hum lakin Faraz

Dost dushman ka nikal aaya hai apna Aashna