Let Us Give Thanks (a Poem for Thanksgiving)

by Dorothy Reinhold on November 23, 2010


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Let Us Give Thanks

By Max Coots

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

Let Us Give ThanksFor children who are our second planting, and, though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.

Let us give thanks:

For generous friends…with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us we had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn — and the others — as plain as potatoes, and so good for you.

For funny friends, who are as silly as brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who — like parsnips — can be counted on to see you through the long winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

Let Us Give ThanksFor loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils, and hold us despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;

And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past, that have been harvested — but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give thanks.

Source: the late Rev. Max Coots, who was Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton, New York. His passion for gardening yielded this beloved and much used meditation.

Let Us Give Thanks

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

ConnieK November 27, 2013 at 7:53 am

I love the 2010 column especially…. (-:

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Dorothy Reinhold November 27, 2013 at 11:37 am

Connie,
Me too.

Reply

Jeanne Loch November 22, 2013 at 9:14 am

This is a wonderful poem. I read it at my ladies church meeting and my hospital auxiliary board meeting and had to make copies for several of the ladies. Very true.

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Dorothy Reinhold November 22, 2013 at 12:01 pm

Jeanne,
Thank you for letting me know! I cry every time I read it.

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Nancy@acommunaltable November 23, 2010 at 8:35 pm

What a beautiful poem and sentiment and so very, very true!! I love the photo of your children… thinking that this time next year my oldest might not be at my table (he’s a senior and is applying ALL over the country!!) and thinking back to when mine were that age – so wonderful!!

I am thankful for so much .. including new friends like you – wishing you and yours a joyous Thanksgiving!!

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Food-G November 23, 2010 at 10:27 am

ooooh, I love this. So beautiful, and so true. Thank you for sharing this lovely poem Dorothy. And Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours : )

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