<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><font class=""><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="">For Us, The Living </font></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">(Thanksgiving Poem)</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><br class=""></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">On this day, we join our lives</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">In thanksgiving feast and light</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">But let us not forget</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The other days, the other loves,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Whom we have long passed by.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Give thanks, O my friends,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">For the living and the dead</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">For those who have gone before</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">To show us the way – or perhaps,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">A way we do not want to go.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The instructions are clear for us,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">My friends: To live until we die</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">To taste the sweet and the bitter</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">To love and to lose…</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">To forge our own way</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Through thicket and briar</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">To build our own mountain-tops</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">To traverse our own valleys.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">We are made, my friends,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Not to go alone!</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Our hands were made for holding</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Our hearts were made for love</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Our souls were made to search</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The daytime skies for stars,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The nighttime sky for dawn.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Reach your fingers out, ungloved</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">For thorns and roses both</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Hold your sadness close inside</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Your grief as much a gift</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">As joy; we need both rain</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And sun to grow; we need</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Forests to get lost in,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And dreams to lead us on.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Rejoice, my friends, in life</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Which so many are denied</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Bless the broken pieces</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The memories that haunt</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The children of our spirit</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Who toss the autumn leaves</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And leap into their piles</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Releasing clouds of dust</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">The sweet piercing stems and sticks</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Embracing the wholeness of life</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">From start to finish</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And beyond.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">So, give thanks, my friends,</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">For one another, the strangers</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And the known, for those</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Who look for stars at dawn</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">For those with races still un-run.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">For here we are, the living</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">With hearts’ desires unmet</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">We find those in each others’ hands</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And smiles, the comfort</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">Of joining lives today</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">And all the days to come.</div></font><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>- Susan S. Standen</div></body></html>