CONTINUE: a poem

Maya Angelou

By Maya Angelou

My wish for you
Is that you continue

         Continue

To be who and how you are
To astonish a mean world
With your acts of kindness

         Continue

To allow humor to lighten the burden
Of your tender heart

         Continue

In a society dark with cruelty
To let the people hear the grandeur
Of God in the peals of your laughter

          Continue

To let your eloquence
Elevate the people to heights
They had only imagined

         Continue

To remind the people that
Each is as good as the other
And that no one is beneath
Nor above you

        Continue

To remember your own young years
And look with favor upon the lost
And the least and the lonely

        Continue

To put the mantle of your protection
Around the bodies of
The young and defenseless

        Continue

To take the hand of the despised
And diseased and walk proudly with them
In the high street
Some might see you and
Be encouraged to do likewise

         Continue

To plant a public kiss of concern
On the cheek of the sick
And the aged and infirm
And count that as a
Natural action to be expected

         Continue

To let gratitude be the pillow
Upon which you kneel to
Say your nightly prayer
And let faith be the bridge
You build to overcome evil
And welcome good

       Continue

To ignore no vision
Which comes to enlarge your range
And increase your spirit

       Continue

To dare to love deeply
And risk everything
For the good thing

       Continue

To float
Happily in the sea of infinite substance
Which set aside riches for you
Before you had a name

       Continue

And by doing so
You and your work
Will be able to continue
Eternally

§§§

With appreciation to my friend Hal Bauer, who sent me this  poem.

Update 01/01/2020.  I did not realize I lacked the full text of the poem.  Click on this to read it in full.

Tags: Maya Angelou