Angel of Hope

As today is International Woman's Day it somehow seemed appropriate to try photographing this - it's called an angel of hope and it was bought for me by a friend for my 40th birthday! I'm particularly fond of it as it reminds me of the many special friends that I have in my life and how they have helped bring me to the place that I am now in my journey but today it perhaps for me also stands as a beacon of hope for the many other women who are still living in conditions of opression and powerlesness - I guess that is what today is all about.

I celebrated INternational Woman's Day by spending the evening with my 2 sisters. Busy lives and work committments mean that we don't get to do that as often as we would like but tonight we got together and shared a bottle of wine or three and many laughs. It was a good fun evening and a good time was had by all but I suspect I may regret it in the morning - still it was worth it!



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 - Still I Arise