ALCHEMY

I lift my heart as spring lifts up 
A yellow daisy to the rain; 
My heart will be a lovely cup 
Altho' it holds but pain. 
For I shall learn from flower and leaf 
That color every drop they hold, 
To change the lifeless wine of grief 
To living gold. 
 - Sara Teasdale

Two songs for solitude

The Crystal Gazer
I shall gather myself into myself again, 
I shall take my scattered selves and make them one, 
I shall fuse them into a polished crystal ball 

Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun. 

I shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent, 

Watching the future come and the present go-- 

And the little shifting pictures of people rushing 

In tiny self-importance to and fro. 

The Solitary

Let them think I love them more than I do, 

Let them think I care, though I go alone, 

If it lifts their pride, what is it to me 

Who am self-complete as a flower or a stone? 

It is one to me that they come or go 

If I have myself and the drive of my will, 

And strength to climb on a summer night 

And watch the stars swarm over the hill. 

My heart has grown rich with the passing of years, 

I have less need now than when I was young 

To share myself with every comer, 

Or shape my thoughts into words with my tongue. 

Sara Teasdale 1884-1933

Dealing with Rejection Letters: Why Editors Say No to Your Story and What to Do Next

Dealing with Rejection Letters: Why Editors Say No to Your Story and What to Do Next

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
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