We Must Be Grateful Poem by Steven Federle

'For all God's gifts there must be in us a response of
thanksgiving and happiness and joy.'
Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation.
***

We must be grateful
when the old ones leave.

Forsaking the March sun,
they brush off tender, white blossoms.

Past the fleeing migrations,
they exhale their final, tainted breath.

Rising from earthen bones
in deep silence, new hymns intone

of thanksgiving and joy
and home.