Thanksgiving Time

I'm thankful for so many things,

It's hard to pick out just a few

And tell in little, simple words

How very much they mean to you.

First there is sunlight rich and warm

Shining upon the house and lot;

The good laws of our native land

For which our fathers lived and fought.

For neighbors just beyond the fence,

Whose lives are closely linked with ours,

With whom we share so many things --

Driveways and lights and growing flowers.

For crops of grain, for fruit and meat,

The fragrance of the earth; the trees, 

Churches and schools and country lanes --

I am thankful for all these.

For children in a hundred schools,

For timid old folks bent and worn,

Young mothers brave as knights of old,

Waiting for babies to be born.

For old church bells that softly chime,

A turkey at Thanksgiving time.

~ Edna Jaques