This poem hit me deep the first time I read it, back when we were just starting Worldchanging. Simran Sethi reminded me of it today, and since it is so perfect for a holiday based on gratitude celebrated in difficult times, I thought I'd quote it.

THANKS
by W.S. Merwin

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 different 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
looking up from our tables we are saying thank you
in a country up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
we go on unchanged 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 wires going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
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

To the greedy bankers and hedge managers I say thank you
To the short sighted leaders and lenders thank you
Thank you for creating a word of mouth crisis of despair
Thank you for braking the model that enslaved us
For letting your greed create a huge opportunity I thank you
For forcing us to focus on what is important I thank you
For forcing drastic change I am for ever in debt to you, a debt that we will all repay with hope and empathy and a new passion for life... I thank you sir.

Posted by: stiven on December 2, 2008 7:44 AM

Beautiful.

Posted by: Sanjay Khanna on December 9, 2008 8:45 AM

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