may it continue

Revolutionary Letter #68 Life Chant

may it come that all the radiances will be known as our own radiance
              Tibetan Book of the Dead

cacophony of small birds at dawn may it continue sticky monkey flowers on bare brown hills may it continue bitter taste of early miner's lettuce may it continue music on city streets in the summer nights may it continue kids laughing on roofs on stoops on the beach in the snow may it continue triumphal shout of the newborn may it continue deep silence of great rainforests may it continue fine austerity of jungle peoples may it continue rolling fuck of great whales in turquoise ocean may it continue clumsy splash of pelican in smooth bays may it continue astonished human eyeball squinting thru aeons at astonished nebulae who squint back may it continue clean snow on the mountain may it continue fierce eyes, clear light of the aged may it continue rite of birth & naming may it continue rite of instruction may it continue rite of passage may it continue love in the morning, love in the noon sun love in the evening among crickets may it continue long tales by fire, by window, in fog, in dusk on the mesa may it continue love in thick midnight, fierce joy of old ones loving may it continue the night music may it continue grunt of mating hippo, giraffe, foreplay of snow leopard screeching of cats on the backyard fence may it continue without police may it continue without prisons may it continue without hospitals, death medicine: flu & flue vaccine may it continue without madhouses, marriage, high schools that are prisons may it continue without empire may it continue in sisterhood may it continue thru the wars to come may it continue in brotherhood may it continue tho the earth seem lost may it continue thru exile & silence may it continue with cunning and love may it continue as woman continues may it continue as breath continues may it continue as stars continue may it continue may the wind deal kindly w/ us may the fire remember our names many springs flow, rain fall again may the land grow green, may it swallow our mistakes we begin the work may it continue the great transmutation may it continue a new heaven & a new earth may it continue may it continue

Diane di Prima