Thanks Given Poem by Stephen Sherbin II

I give thanks and good tidings to you,
And pray your safety, and health, and finance.

I give thanks to you, mother and father,
For your care, and help, and guidance
in how to conduct myself with those around me.

I give thanks to you, my family,
For your support and happy reunions,
and for your help when times were tough.

I give thanks to you, my friends,
For watching my back in my youthfulness
and listening when I was uncomfortable and frustrated.

I give thanks to you, farmers and architects and engineers,
For providing bountiful harvests, strong shelter,
and new technology through much hard labor
showing what will and hard work can do.

I give thanks to you, cooks and artists and service workers and writers,
For being our smiling face and challenging us
through creativity and bold words
and kindness and good hearts.

I give thanks to you, teachers and business people and government men and women,
For pushing us to be better and showing us how to be more organized.

I give thanks to you, ancestors,
For building our foundations that we may expand upon
and fuse cultures and heritages, and have chance to accept each other equally
regardless of the amount of pigment in our skin.

I give thanks to you, dear soldier,
For standing at the front of the line to protect us, our loved ones
and our freedoms from foes that plan our demise,
your sacrifice is worth more than all the wealth in the world in my eye.

I give thanks to you, my pastors,
For showing me where the light comes from,
and love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace.

I give thanks to you, God and Jesus,
For being my breath of life, my light in darkness,
my hope, my rock, my safe place

And for you who reads this, whether mentioned or not,
I thank you, for being like me,
In which I do not feel alone.

Whether you realize it or not,
I Love You, and God Bless You.

© November 25,2009 Stephen Sherbin II