Endings Make Me Grateful

Poetry Friday today is hosted today by the foodie princess, Jama Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.  Thank you Jama!  

           In the middle of May, Your Daily Poem shared a poem by a poet new to me, Barbara Crooker, who has published numerous poems and books, gives workshops and readings.  Many speak of the importance of being thankful for the little things, and there is even a meme titled Thankful Thursday, a way for bloggers to post about those parts of their lives for which they give thanks. 

Barbara’s poem is titled Gratitude and it touched me with its clear message, right here, right now in the late spring into summertime. No matter how many times I read about others’ thankfulness, I am grateful for their words and say a silent thank you for the reminder to me. 

And, here at the end of my school year, it is especially appropriate to say my thanks for the wonderful colleagues I have, for the school where I can practice what I preach-to be kind to children and let them learn. 

The poem begins

This week, the news of the world is bleak, another war

grinding on, and all these friends down with cancer,

or worse, a little something long term that they won’t die of

for twenty or thirty miserable years—

and the rest is found here.

photo credit: shannonkringen via photo pin cc