Maya Angelou wrote this poem as a birthday gift. When you wish
someone happy birthday, you are marking another year, another trip around the
sun, and wishing that the next orbit will be filled with health and happiness
and goodness. It rings true to me as a way to ponder the meaning of our next
trip around the sun that begins today, the New Year of our calendars rather
than our birth day.
“continue”
– by Maya Angelou
On the day of your birth
The Creator filled
countless storehouses and
stockings
With rich ointments
Luscious tapestries
And antique coins of
incredible value
Jewels worthy of a queen’s dowry
They were set aside
for your use
Alone
Armed with faith and hope
And without knowing
of the wealth which awaited
You broke through
dense walls
of poverty
And loosed the chains of ignorance which
threatened to cripple
you so that you
could walk
A Free Woman
Into a world which
needed you
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 mantel 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
