Thank you

“Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?” -Hal Borland

A benefit of experiencing four seasons is that each time of year carries its own distinct mood. The transition from autumn to winter is a contemplative one, a time of acceptance towards the cold days to come and a reflection on the final colors of autumn. Thanksgiving accentuates this time well, and provides a natural space for expressing gratitude.

I have many things to be thankful for this season, and they are summed up in a song by Native American singer-songwriter Joe Reilly, called “Thank you”

Thank You – Joe Reilly

Thank you for fathers and mothers
Thank you for sisters and brothers
For sons and for daughters
For the earth and the waters

Thank you for bright days and dark nights

For death and for new life
Each breath we renew life
It’s you who renews life

And in these times when pain does rise
And I self-criticize, demoralize, over-analyze
Angel spirits wise help to turn my eyes
From looking inside to the skies

“The sun still shines” they remind
Even when it resides behinds clouds and hides
And each day tides are pulled by the moon
And tonight the moon is full and bright
My gaze is on its light reflecting on the snow so white
Fallen from an atmospheric height
An ancient sacred rite of water, wind and light

And all I know is to walk out below
The stars and show
The ancestors who flow through me
That I can be free. That I can be free. That I can be free.

Way haw, way haw, way haw
Miigwetch G’chi Manidou
(Ojibway/Anishnaabe: “Thank you, Great Spirit”)

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And to you who are reading this, thank you for stopping by and spending some time with me.

What are you thankful for?

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