STILL I RISE THROUGH HARDSHIPS

EPISODE 4

When the world tests your limits, discovering a determined inner strength will prove that you are and always have been your greatest asset.

Gema H.

“Still I Rise Through Hardships”

Are you really proud?
Are. You. Proud?
Of the path to the girl I’ll become
Because in my eyes

she ain’t worth enough…
Now you say my success
can’t happen over night

Yet my checks
From right to left
Suggest
I’m the only one

Left
Behind.
Stuck

But through my hardships, I’ll rise

Now is it just me
Or are minds
Already made up
On who I might be
Since the age of 3
You’ll be a ghetto fabulous queen
In these streets

Now she has to prove herself to a bigger audience.
But look now
I’m doing bigger and better things
To be me
To be ME
Let me tell you what it takes

6:30 am
beep beep beep
Another day, another grind
School, work, home, repeat,
School, work, home, repeat,

Got so much to prove,
to those
Disa-ppro-ving-ly
Doub-ting me.

Ain’t your regular black girl from these streets
Tryna become what I set out to be
Working 3 jobs, taking care of things for me
Flipping scripts money moves
Now Ain’t this shit sweet

so why question me,
Sister has a baby, N now I’m 16
with bay responsibilities
N’Now I’m working hard
For something I haven’t done,
Daddy and mommy taught me tough love,
Cause they never gave none,
To a mistake,

They never knew they’ll have another one,
So instead of treating you like
You’re something,
you’re nothing!
Rather than change
shit reciprocates into the
Real world
Takes a life of its own
And whispers the things I know…
Expectations means nothing
you work hard to avoid
People who down play you,
Hard to figure out who you are
When you’re the only sole representation
Of who you are,

They may shoot me with words,
Cut me with their eyes
Kill me with hatefulness
But through those hardships I’ll rise

You second guess your god given purpose,
Because your dreams
Are too far to be supported,

Questioning who you are because
Nobody gets
why you are
the way you are,
Shoot for the stars n shattered
Because the words pilled atop one another
Can lead your mind to another
Hesitant and confused
Family, friends, significant other,
Even the world
Got you questioning you
Why aren’t you like the others

Do they see you broken?

So they forgot where I started from,
Builds character
they don’t see your everyday hardship
So you sit alone waiting to be told
You’re not-a-lone
Like always it’s you’re voice

Pushing you to go get more,
Another day, another dollar
Forget those niggas trynna holla
Your support system is you,
So don’t give up now,
The most glorious days
Come to those who seek to shine
Through my hardships, I’ll rise
Reach high the limits
Are through the depths of the sky

You’re not the demons
They mistaken you for
You’re not the pain or hurt
You with hold
You’re stronger then that
But you already know
It’s all temporary
The smallest inconveniences
May bring minor setbacks
Though nothings too big
For major comebacks
Under the sun
You glisten like no other

So in the events of
Harnessing yourself to
Who god set you out to be
You’re not a meal
You’re a garden
Water yourself daily
With consistency and dedication
Because though a rose
Can’t grow from concrete
You’re a rose from malvern
Sometimes you need
Peace and change of mind
Go seek it no matter if you gotta fly

So trust me when I say
I don’t need you or you or you
Cause this black girl
Has been doing it
And is going,
To make it through