I Am Woman

I will not be oppressed.

Look at you

Try'na figure out my bra size

The shape of my hips

And if I'll let you between my thighs

I'm more than that.

The struggle of the "man"

Has always been documented

All the pain supplemented

By the knowledge that you

Will get your remunerations.

But woman continues to be oppressed.

Looked over for the best job

The hottest spot

And asked to "put out" to get what she wants.

But I refuse to be of that statistic

One more colored woman just about to miss it.

Don't try to tell me that I've got it made

"Find a good man live in the shade"

But what if I want to be independent?

Will you still look at me in a demeaning way?

Tell me that, "Girl, in the house is where you should stay"?

The divas before me paved the way

They said it was okay

To want to prove myself

To extend my wings and fly.

I will not be denied

Even though I may be considered

A second class citizen

I will prove my worth and leave no question

That like Dr. Maya Angelou said

"Still I rise."

Rise above the oppression

Above the proclamation that being female

I am inadequate

Above the innuendo and defamation

That the world throws my way.

I will never be less

I will always be more

For the power I possess

Many want... but none can store.

Don't tell me I can't do do it

And don't put boundaries to my climb.

Just because I'm a woman

Doesn't mean that I'm weak

It just means that my strength

It just comes from way, way deep.

So woman lift your head

walk about strong and proud

Don't allow those out there

To bring you down

Remember that you are the jewel

You hold the prize

And you are truly amazing

In God's loving eyes.

I am woman.

I won't be oppressed

I won't be denied.

Y Fue Asi

Y fue asi

Cuando tocaste mi corazón

La electricidad que corrió

Fue como la sangre que fluye por mis venas

Y me hace vivir.

Fue tan real

El toque de tus palabras

En este ser sediento

Como espera la tierra la lluvia

Para revivir lo que esta casi muerto.

Y fue asi

En lo que senti

Tu esencia me lleno

De manera que nada mas importaba

Y solo tu eras real.

All that You Are

All I needed was one moment

One moment to take in you essence

To learn why you are as you are.

How can I measure the parts of you that

Being so innately you

Cause my heart to leap and skip for joy?

I cannot, for all the time under the heavens

Take back the moment that you,

Being just as you are,

Crept into that spot in my heart

That was made in the shape of you.

The moment I realized that,

Because you are as you are,

You took me by surprise

Engulfing me in new sensations I’ve never felt

Was the moment that my heart beat anew,

Falling into the syncopation that matched so perfectly

That beating that is who you are.

And even now as I,

Knowing entirely the truth of you,

Put my ear to your chest

To listen to that firm beating that I so dearly love,

I can’t help but marvel

As one may do with a new child,

How wondrous this feeling is.

The feeling that knowing you,

And what is essentially you,

I have been given the gift I so longed for,

The one that I held out for.

And as that moment of understanding dawns

And I am once again allowed to be near you

I see what you are, I understand it

And I know that what you are,

All that you are,

Is what I need, and what I want.

And I no longer search anymore.