Three Poems for Thanksgiving

"Home for Thanksgiving" Currier and Ives Print of a painting by George Currie, 1867

IN BLACKWATER WOODS

by

Mary Oliver

Look, the trees

are turning

their own bodies

into pillars

of light,

are giving off the rich

fragrance of cinnamon

and fulfillment,

the long tapers

of cattails

are bursting and floating away over

the blue shoulders

of the ponds,

and every pond,

no matter what its

name is, is

nameless now.

Every year

everything

I have ever learned

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

is salvation,

whose meaning

none of us will ever know.

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

"In Blackwater Woods" by Mary Oliver, from American Primitive. © Back Bay Books, 1983. 

A LONG AND GRACIOUS FALL

by

David Budbill

A long and gracious fall this year.

The leaves are down. Gardens: emptied,

manured, tilled, smooth, and waiting.

Mower and tiller serviced and put away.

Smoker put away, as is the summer table.

Prayer flags, windsocks and their poles: down.

Twenty-foot homemade badminton poles,

peace flag at the top of one, store-bought net—

all down and put away for another year. No more

outdoor summer chores.

Fall planting — peonies and tiger lilies — done.

Summer flower stalks removed, beds mulched,

a blanket for the cold. Fall pruning done.

Woodshed roof hammered down and sealed again.

Cellar closed. Drive staked and flagged so the

snowplow knows where to go.

What else is there to do? Finally, for once, we are ready

for the snow. Ready now to come inside. Time now for

words and music, poems and shakuhachi. Time now

to light some incense, sit and stare at candlelight.

"A Long and Gracious Fall" by David Budbill, from Happy Life. © Copper Canyon Press, 2011.

A PRAYER AMONG FRIENDS

by

John Daniel

Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive

with one another, we walk here

in the light of this unlikely world

that isn't ours for long.

May we spend generously

the time we are given.

May we enact our responsibilities

as thoroughly as we enjoy

our pleasures. May we see with clarity,

may we seek a vision

that serves all beings, may we honor

the mystery surpassing our sight,

and may we hold in our hands

the gift of good work

and bear it forth whole, as we

were borne forth by a power we praise

to this one Earth, this homeland of all we love.

"A Prayer among Friends" by John Daniel, from Of Earth. © Lost Horse Press, 2012.