Thanksgiving

I'm usually asked to write a poem for the family gathering whenever Dr. M and I are able to be in NC for Thanksgiving. This year's poem was extra hard to write, as one might imagine. But it's done, and since I'm scheduling this to post during our meal, I am most likely eating corn pudding and pecan pie right this very minute. And I think that makes up for a lot of the hard things that have happened during 2016, don't you?

You may not know it,

But I have vicissitudes.

I hope it’s not chronic,

But it’s a pretty serious case,

These vicissitudes.

And my plate is full

Of things I’d rather not eat:

Bitterness, despair, anxiety, and Brussels sprouts

I blame those vicissitudes.

I’m looking back at the arc

Of this year and trying to find

A morsel of thanks be to God.

Was it in April when we lost Amy?

Was it in July when Mike became unemployed?

Was it this month, when Brandon shipped out,

My priest resigned,

And my candidate didn’t win the election?

Yes, yes it was.

Thanks be to God was there

On those days and all the others

Where there was joy and grief

And spreadsheets and the World Series

And your hand in mine in this circle.

You know how vicissitudes work, don’t you?

Picture a leaf, tumbling in the wind.

It goes down and up, around and around

Until it settles into

The cupped hand

Of God.

Let us Bless the Lord!

(and the people said): Thanks Be To God!

Dana W. Rhyne

Thanksgiving, 2016

Lake Cumberland Resort State Park
Dr. M & I startled a flock of wild turkeys - you can just barely make out the last of them, beyond the tree with the shadow, as they fled down the hill.