May It Continue
by Thomas Rain Crowe
May the brown earth and the green leaves
thrive in color and in grace.
May it continue.
May the clear air and the cumulocirrus clouds
be there in the sky and in each breath, always.
May it continue.
May the water made of sweet minerals and salt
in small streams and large rivers
flow forever and forever flow to the seas.
May it continue.
May the sun shine warm and bright
and the moon give light at night—shining from shook foil.
May it continue.
May the beautiful birds of Hawaii and
the luminous parrots of Peru fly far and fast
and may their number grow.
May it continue.
May the deer and the elk, the antelope and the ibis
move and migrate, leap and lope across plain
and wooded plateau.
May it continue.
May the whale and the dolphin and the manatee
swim deep in dark oceans and lagoons and sing.
May it continue.
May the elephants forever in families roam,
trunk to tail, trumpeting bliss.
May it continue.
May waves of warm frost linger in bush and blaze
that puts fire in the peat of loam. And let lick cry from ripe vine.
May it continue.
May the rose climb through
the cold murmur of morning dirt.
May dark mulch coax tendrils from sleep.
May it continue.
May wild words come flying from green coils and
may each breath rustle through the beard of blue moss
in the sound of song.
May it continue.
—“May It Continue” was first published in Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods by Thomas Rain Crowe (University of Georgia Press, 2006)