Happy Thanksgiving Poem by Jim Yerman

Happy Thanksgiving



Thanksgiving is a day for us to come together with affinity and to exclaim
How thankful we are for what we have, (it’s even embedded in the holiday’s name) .

As we give thanks for our family and the numerous blessings in life we’ve achieved
I think it’s also a time to give thanks for the blessings we haven’t received.

For instance I was born with very poor eyesight without my glasses it’s hard for me to see.
When it comes to reading the eye chart, I can’t make out that big letter ‘E’!

But the world I see is a synthesis as colors and light interplay
Where beauty is blended with beauty, Hey, I wonder if that’s why I love Monet?

And my hearing, though better than my eyesight, has never been what I’d call strong
I don’t understand all conversations or hear the words to my favorite songs.

But I fill in the words that I miss so my life can have symmetry
And I sing my own versions of my favorite songs, Hey, could that be why I like poetry?

I never grew to be as big as I wanted, I was going to be a football star if you must know
Nor was I blessed with the ability I had hoped: to run or to catch or to throw.

So I was destined to watch football at home or at the game high up in the bleachers
But I found I liked working with children, Hey, maybe that’s why I became a teacher?

Teaching didn’t lead to the fame and the wealth...no nationwide adulation
We didn’t have a mansion, a boat, or a limo and didn’t go on exotic vacations.

But we had enough to make our lives happy and more often than not we were glad
For we learned in a world so uncertain to enjoy the things that we already had.

It seems to me as we travel this world no matter how distant, how far
Sometimes it’s the blessings we haven’t received that make us the people we are.

So as you celebrate Thanksgiving this year there are two ways to give thanks, I believe.
Be thankful for all the blessings you’ve been given, and for the ones you have never received.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
A poem about Thanksgiving and what to give thanks for.
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