Thank you, God, for my gift of words.
Thank you, Holy Mother, for your presence.
Thank you from a boy
who failed his first year of school.
Who did not read before he was ten.
Who climbed a tree higher than the sky
and dreamed of falling.
Thank you for trees,
for mountains,
for sails,
for butterflies.
Thank you for kindness.
Dogs that gave me absolute love.
Thank you for water to swim in,
wind to race,
spring saving me from winter.
Thank you for a father
who sang to me and played a guitar.
Thank you for a choir
where I could sing
and listen to words of compassion.
Thank you for the top of a well
where I saw stars
beseeching me to climb from fear.
Thank you for the people
you gave me to cherish,
who love and loved me,
and for the voice
that rushes through my heart
saying, there is more,
there is forever,
a poem by your pillow every night.