A Poetic Realization

Listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you 

we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings 

we are running out of the glass rooms 

with our mouths full of food to look at the sky 

and say thank you 

we are standing by the water thanking it 

smiling by the windows looking out 

in our directions  

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging 

after funerals we are saying thank you 

after the news of the dead 

whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you 

over telephones we are saying thank you 

in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators 

remembering wars and the police at the door 

and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you 

in the banks we are saying thank you 

in the faces of the officials and the rich

and of all who will never change

we go on saying thank you thank you 

with the animals dying around us 

our lost feelings we are saying thank you 

with the forests falling faster than the minutes 

of our lives we are saying thank you 

with the words going out like cells of a brain 

with the cities growing over us 

we are saying thank you faster and faster 

with nobody listening we are saying thank you 

we are saying thank you and waving 

dark though it is

- W.S. Merwin

I love this poem because it speaks honestly to the truth of the world. That truth is that there is darkness. But in giving thanks in the midst of darkness, even when no one is listening, we effectively oppose that which would make us dark, resentful and negative. We say 'thank you' to express our gratitude if only for simply being.

At times, giving thanks may seem utterly pointless in light of circumstances, but giving thanks always makes us better people.