Dawn on Thanksgiving 2023 - Ken Roberts

[Larry Robinson]

Dawn on Thanksgiving 2023
 
 
I am thankful ...
For the silence
In the hour before dawn,
As the owl and the spider
by habit and ingenuity
return from their night
of gathering
to their safe, well-hidden
homes.
For the kisses over
Every inch of me
As I was born into this world
And the kisses over every inch
Of my children coming in
And of their children
And of every child
Everywhere
Every one …
And for the kisses that will
Carry us home
Accompanied or alone
When it is time for
This passage to end.
For the sea …
Its vastness,
vast intimacy;
For all the exchanges,
Understood / or
Unheeded.
For the magical dew that
Brings sustenance to every root
And burrowing creature
Through the months without rain.
And for the rain,
The tears of joy from above
That find you, and me,
And all the multitude of beings
We will never meet,
Yet on whose thriving we depend …
As they on us.
I am thankful
For the light from your eyes
that shone on me;
for what you saw,
for what you gave me to see,
for what we cannot,
must not,
will not
forget …
and for all the lovely stories
and the horrifying stories
that will dim from
our minds in the passage of time, (yet)
that we will hold in our bodies,
our souls until
they mean,
once again,
no more, nor less,
than the silence
before dawn.

	- Ken Roberts