Continue

Continue
by Maya Angelou

My wish for you
Is that you continue

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

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To allow humor to lighten the burden
Of your tender heart

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

Art by Mianyi, late 18th century, China