What ought a person do?
I said to him: May it be thy will
They said: Why doth thy bank with the devil?
Let that evil spirit touch your lips
They say its a truth serum
Letting thy true will take form
Which entity will take form
Ah therein lies true form
Sneer as you're taken away
Watching the babies cry
Still sneering
Poor dear was possessed
Possessed by what?
Merely hidden so very well
So delicately disguised
Its all derivative
Arising from the illusion
Blind yourself
Of its existence
I confess I have never really existed
In spite of this persistent illusion
Never having existed
The lady of moth and moon unfurling her shy and deadly petals
Navigator of the midnight sea
The dream of intoxication that follows her scent
She is the woman in everysong
The night-blooming narcotic
She is the horned blossom
The guardian of the threshold
The keeper of madness
Arising from the illusion
Blind yourself
Of its existence
I confess I have never really existed
In spite of this persistent illusion
Never having existed
The lady of moth and moon unfurling her shy and deadly petals
Navigator of the midnight sea
The dream of intoxication that follows her scent
She is the woman in everysong
The night-blooming narcotic
She is the horned blossom
The guardian of the threshold
The keeper of madness
Sunken rags and the demon queen
Eternally misunderstood
And I looked, and, behold
A whirlwind came out of the north
A great cloud, and a fire infolding itself
Out of the midst of the fire
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures
And this their appearance
They had the likeness of a man
And every one had four faces
And every one had four wings
What is above
What is below
What is before
And what is after
And the steadfast man
And the counsellor
And the cunning artificer
And the eloquent orator
To what is this analogous?
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies
You may trod me in the very dirt
Does my sassiness upset you?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
Just like moons and like suns
With the certainty of tides
Just like hopes springing high
Bah humbug go forth and wallow
Enjoy your misery
Invite your rotten pain
Struggle til the end of days
Weakened by my soulful cries
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops
Don't you take it awful hard
You may cut me with your eyes
You may kill me with your hatefulness
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
I shall dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide
You left behind nights of terror and fear
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
You're of two minds
Of darkness
Of superfluous struggle
Yet there go I
I use the gifts that my ancestors gave
Of the dream and the hope of the slave
I rise
I rise
I rise
Eternally misunderstood
And I looked, and, behold
A whirlwind came out of the north
A great cloud, and a fire infolding itself
Out of the midst of the fire
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures
And this their appearance
They had the likeness of a man
And every one had four faces
And every one had four wings
What is above
What is below
What is before
And what is after
And the steadfast man
And the counsellor
And the cunning artificer
And the eloquent orator
To what is this analogous?
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies
You may trod me in the very dirt
Does my sassiness upset you?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
Just like moons and like suns
With the certainty of tides
Just like hopes springing high
Bah humbug go forth and wallow
Enjoy your misery
Invite your rotten pain
Struggle til the end of days
Weakened by my soulful cries
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops
Don't you take it awful hard
You may cut me with your eyes
You may kill me with your hatefulness
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
I shall dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide
You left behind nights of terror and fear
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
You're of two minds
Of darkness
Of superfluous struggle
Yet there go I
I use the gifts that my ancestors gave
Of the dream and the hope of the slave
I rise
I rise
I rise
