Grace
Thanks & blessing be
to the Sun & the Earth
for this bread & this wine,
this fruit, this meat, this salt,
this food;
thanks be & blessing to them
who prepare it, who serve it;
thanks & blessing to them
who share it
(& also the absent & the dead.)
Thanks & blessing to them who bring it
(may they not want),
to them who plant & tend it,
harvest & gather it
(may they not want);
thanks & blessing to them who work
& blessing to them who cannot;
may they not want — for their hunger
sours the wine
& robs the salt of its taste.
Thanks be for the sustenance & strength
for our dance & the work of justice, of peace.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is fantastic. Where did you find it? How have I not heard of this person?
Thank you for sharing. Thank you for doing.
It is lovely, isn’t it? I hadn’t heard of González before yesterday, when I went looking for this year’s Thanksgiving poem. (It’s become a tradition for me to post a poem or quotation on Thanksgiving; see 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.) I googled “Thanksgiving poem” and this article came up. It lists several poems; this was my favorite.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Lauren.
Beautiful–thank you!