Why I Am Thankful, Oh God!--By A. Michele Leslie--United States

Why I Am Thankful, Oh God!

I thank you, God, for snow, covering the midwest ground like a racing white steed;
for evergreens, bending in the wind, like a band of green worshipers.
I thank you that winter gives way to a swaying Spring maiden
beneath the sun's all-cleansing rays; I thank you for
small children, darting across the fields, for the barking dog,
for the glittering plate I drop my offering in; for Sunday stories
told by holy priests, and children tugging at their mother's coat
to go and dine. I thank you for a heart that loves each season and
I thank you for candles seizing light and windows shining rain,
for smoke arising on an altar from incense to your name,
for song whose melody like dancing feet trots on to merry
climbing of a mountain in fresh air where monks abound
and for the yogi sitting at its foot, his head, a lotus-crown.
For these, for all, for more, my offering of thanks arises
before the gift that you have given:  my life
of small and quaint surprises!

A. Michele Leslie is a poet and playwright who lives in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota with her husband, David, and two cats.