Thanks

An internet friend first told me about this poem three or four years ago and Patti Digh, whose blog 37 Days you can find in the list to the right, posted it today. As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to share it here.

Listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
… we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is

-W. S. Merwin

And then, there is this by Meister Ekhart

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.

I'm going through a rough spot, but I have so much for which I am thankful. I am constantly pursuing "the rapture of being alive*" and am so blessed that I can ride a horse or a bike through the woods, both which bring me great rapture. I've learned a lot in the past three years, a lot about myself and the support I have from good friends. I am thankful for all of it.


*Joseph Campbell