Today I Thank You Gracious God

Today I thank you, gracious God
for everything good and kind you give —
hawkweeds yellow and deceitful by the road
pretending to be dandelions,
trefoil waving her mane in the wind,
the bright odor of children song,
the purple color of wind in trees,
prayer welling through my soul
cool and merciful.

Thank you for fathers and mothers
the solid and soft,
for brothers and sisters
closer than roots are to soil,
for the thick trunk of thunderhead,
the bumpy head of cumulus,
and the smooth scalp of cirrus,

For all things textured, radiant and high
you give us without reason or deserving,
praise you.


—Eric Nelson