Poetry in Ordinary Time: Thanksgiving

In 2010, British poet Malcolm Guite posted a poem he'd written "for all his North American friends" following a visit to Canada...and I share it with you now.

Thanksgiving*

Thanksgiving starts with thanks for mere survival,

Just to have made it through another year
With everyone still breathing. But we share
So much beyond the outer roads we travel;
Our interweavings on a deeper level,
The modes of life embodied souls can share,
The unguessed blessings of our being here,
The warp and weft that no one can unravel.

So I give thanks for our deep coinherence
Inwoven in the web of God’s own grace,
Pulling us through the grave and gate of death.
I thank him for the truth behind appearance,
I thank him for his light in every face,
I thank him for you all, with every breath.

*To listen to Mr. Guite read this aloud, click HERE.  Note that, as do many Brits, he refers to us a "American"...meaning North American.  Happy Thanksgiving!