Loosely inspired from the poem “Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou.
You may lay your silence across my shoulders
like a shroud,
may try to name me ending, pause,
may draw a thousand maps to keep me small—
but I was born where roads split open
like ribs,
where the wind tastes like decisions,
and the light bends just for me.
You thought I would be quiet,
folded in the margin like
an unfinished letter,
but I have walked through storms with stars
under my tongue,
and I carry every no I’ve ever heard like a torch
that refuses to burn out.
At the crossroads, I have lingered with trembling hands,
observed as the future ripples
in the dusk
like silk on the wind, and I have learned to listen
for the pull beneath the noise—
the voice
that sounds like me,
the one that rises even when the world
forgets how to sing.
There were days I stood between one life and the next,
a shadow stitched to nothing but longing,
and still
I stepped forward because change isn’t always loud—
sometimes it’s a soft “yes”
in the chest that won’t stop echoing.
I have been many women— the girl who waited,
the one who ran,
the one who built wings from the silence,
who chose not the easy road, but the one that
shimmered with risk,
where even the sky had no promises,
only the hush before flight.
And now, even when the world tries to fold me
back into doubt,
when it whispers stay small, be still, choose safety,
I rise like smoke through the ceiling of fear,
I bloom through concrete
like I was always meant to,
and at every crossroad, I do not break— I become.
Because the path is not given, it is made
with every step,
I am the storm and the calm, the question
and the answer,
the one who decides what rising looks like
in the dream that is this becoming.
Photo credits: Loui Jover ~ Pinterest
Submitting this poem for dVerse Anthology – Krisis: Poetry at the Crossroads 📩
Posted for Poetics: Triumph and Defeat @dVerse Poets Pub
24 Responses
Wow, this was a poem that was truly inspiring…. the path to triumph is so complicated, and will take us to many defeats but in the end we will win
Thank you so much, Bjorn 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
A tribute to Angelou, and an anthem for women everywhere!
I especially love
“I stepped forward because change isn’t always loud—
sometimes it’s a soft “yes”
in the chest that won’t stop echoing.”
Thank you so much, Merril 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
(and thank you for the glorious prompt) 🥂
I heard echoes of Maya Angelou in this poem, Sanaa, but it is very much you. I love the lines:
‘…I was born where roads split open
like ribs,
where the wind tastes like decisions,
and the light bends just for me’
and the thought of being ‘a shadow stitched to nothing but longing’.
Thank you so much, my dearest Kim 😍 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
It takes decades to grow a poet whose language is capable of a magnitude sufficient to purge emotion and propitate the soul. Who can be small in this? “I am the storm and the calm, the question / and the answer, /
the one who decides what rising looks like /
in the dream that is this becoming.”
Thank you so much, Brendan 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
I would happily stand on any stage, any sidewalk, any city and SHOUT OUT LOUD “And now, even when the world tries to fold me
back into doubt, when it whispers stay small, be still, choose safety, I rise like smoke through the ceiling of fear, I bloom through concrete like I was always meant to,
and at every crossroad, I do not break, I become!!” Brava Sanaa, Brava.
Thank you so much, my dearest Helen 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
So many great lines, Sanaa, I don’t know where to start! Gorgeous writing.
Thank you so much, Nolcha 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
This is so eloquently written and full of powerful symbolism. A wonderful statement of freedom and choice.
I love this line…
and at every crossroad, I do not break— I become.
Thank you so much, Dwight 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Bravo, Sanaa! What a stunning write. Love it. 💖💖
Thank you so much, Punam 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Wow! I could read this poem over and over and feel something new with each read. I connected to so much of what you wrote.
“I am the storm and the calm
the question and the answer…”
Stunning words that empower women everywhere!!
Thank you so much, Colleen 😀 so glad the poem spoke to you 💄❤️
How I miss reading your words!! I posted here but meant to post on open night. My norm is the unnorm still, but I think it still fits.
Your words, as usual, trace the wind. Stunning!
Thank you so much, Mary 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Oh Sanaa!
“but I have walked through storms with stars
under my tongue”
“I rise like smoke through the ceiling of fear,
I bloom through concrete
like I was always meant to,
and at every crossroad, I do not break— I become.”
This should be we poets manifesto…
Thank you so much, Andrew 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Ah yes, great tribute indeed. And the bit that captured me out of all of the great lines – the path – it is made!
Thank you so much, Paul 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️