Still I rise

STILL I RISE ( Thru the fire)

Rent due

Fridge light

Half full

Half pride

Card keeps blinking that red decline

Mama on the phone

Saying "baby

I'm fine"

I can hear the cough

Through the practiced smile

Pocket full of change

Head full of schemes

Writing on receipts

Like they’re winning dreams

Cold floor

Thin coat

Sleep when I can

Not when I'm told

Money made a war inside my mind

Counting every dollar like it's time

Struggle in my chest

But I'm alive

Pain on my back

And still I rise

Still I rise

Yeah

(through the fire, through the fire)

Pain on my back

And still I rise

Friends gone ghost

When the plate got small

Seen real fast

Who would take that fall

Late nights

Bus rides

Face in the glass

Practicing a smile

Let the strangers pass

I bend

I break

But I don't stay bent

Turn every bitter day

To another percent

I talk to the dark

Like it's old kinfolk

"One of us gon' leave"

I ain't in that smoke

Money made a war inside my mind

Counting every dollar like it's time

Struggle in my chest

But I'm alive

Pain on my back

And still I rise

Still I rise

Yeah

(keep breathing, keep breathing)

Pain on my back

And still I rise