<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">To Say Nothing But Thank You<div><br></div><div><div style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0.7em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">All day I try to say nothing but thank you,<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">breathe the syllables in and out with every step I<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">take through the rooms of my house and outside into<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">a profusion of shaggy-headed dandelions in the garden<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">where the tulips’ black stamens shake in their crimson cups.<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">I am saying thank you, yes, to this burgeoning spring</div><div style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0.7em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">and to the cold wind of its changes. Gratitude comes easy<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">after a hot shower, when my loosened muscles work,<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">when eyes and mind begin to clear and even unruly<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">hair combs into place.<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">Dialogue with the invisible can go on every minute,</div><div style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0.7em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">and with surprising gaiety I am saying thank you as I<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">remember who I am, a woman learning to praise<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">something as small as dandelion petals floating on the<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">steaming surface of this bowl of vegetable soup,<br style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: inherit; ">my happy, savoring tongue.</div></div><div style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0.7em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.6em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- Jeanne Lohmann</div></body></html>