Gratitude in Joy & Sorrow, poem by Peter Menkin
This poem came to me as a reflection on a prayer: gratitude is its theme. Written this August 2009, Summertime at night, the work takes on the large theme, "Human condition."
Because I am a Religion Writer for San Francisco Examiner.com (the website, not the print version of San Francisco's Other daily newspaper), I came to this poem after posting a book review on the same subject: Gratitude. The book is by Brother David Steindl-Rast, titled, "Gratefulness the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness."
This poetic work, my poem of last night, reflects also on a prayer that is part of the Evening Prayer service in The Episcopal Church, "Book of Common Prayer." This Monday evening of the same day of the writing of this poem, I'd again said that prayer as I so frequently do during the week.
--Peter Menkin, Mill Valley, CA USA
Gratitude I have--
Had--
This sense of acceptance,
Called giving thanks in a praise.
Of words,
And thoughts for God, Creator
And sustainer—
My gratitude for my preservation,
Bringing me to this new day--
As the Prayer goes.
How kind the thought comes
Of the goodness of God, though
Sorrow is our lot.
As is said, “Human condition.”
Contradiction. For sorrow is the daily sense,
The feeling, the experience, the existential
Day that finds the Other.
In gratitude.
Contradiction. Yes, we are in sorrow
Of the body, of the head, of the experience
Of living that at the same time is joy.
That enveloping experience of emotion—
A happiness that is not happiness.
But the mystery of gratitude for
Joy, sense of kind thought and human condition
And thoughts for God, Creator.
As the Prayer goes in Christ.
We are thankful in living for life, the gift;
In gratitude, in gratitude again
For our Creation.
As the prayer goes in Christ.
(ArticlesBase SC #1118077)
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