Lyrics

Long May You Live

To the oaks outside my window, long may you live
To dreamers with their tubes of paint and brush-stroke canvases
To rooms where people make love and the breath with which they sing
Long may you live

To the smiling Dalai Lama, long may you live
They slaughtered all your people, and yet somehow you forgive
To leaves on apple trees performing photosynthesis
Long may you live

To the music in our marrow, long may you live
To the moon that hides in ocean tides and brings the sailors in
To sleep that keeps us wrapped tight in the night’s black velvet skin
Long may you live

To the wolves that roam in Yellowstone, long may you live
To the suicidal poets who use ink as medicine
To the acrobats who try to fly time and time again
Long may you live

To the Artists of America, long may you live
To the Alabama blacksmith forging horseshoes for his kids
To the little nun from Vietnam who plays a violin
Long may you live

To Chemists in their lonely labs, long may you live
To surgeons in their bloody shirts and all the hearts they fix
To this impressive planet may she spin and spin and spin
Long may you live

Copyright Wolff Bowden, 2008