Say Thank You
When I wake each day in silence
and hear inside myself, “Oh, good morning,
good morning, darling,”
it’s life itself I greet, and me alive.
The day and I salute each other, not
promising anything; just saying
hello, just saying, I’m ready.
Words shake free of sleep
and call to the day, to
the sun that comes, to
the heart that beats, to
the body ready to accept itself.
I anthropomorphize the sunlight,
the turn of the planet, the machinery
of the universe. I throw forth
morning celebrations,
and prayers for the day,
for life has called my name again
and I’m responding to it.
Say joy, say life, say
breathe in and breathe out,
say thank you.
by Betty Lockwood
from The Matriarch’s Song
publisher: Peter Randall, Portsmouth, NH, 2001