Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THANKSGIVING FILLS MY HEART, by ELEANOR G. R. YOUNG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THANKSGIVING FILLS MY HEART, by                    
First Line: How can I tell in words
Last Line: Dear, homely wonders that will come again!
Subject(s): Holidays; Thanksgiving; Turkey


How can I tell in words
The year's full joy?
Words cannot garner all the heart's delight;
Words are not dreamed of
That can give the call
Of early robins, or the happy sight
Of tiny seedlings pushing through the sod
Words cannot voice
The bounty of our God.

I will remember how the sunset's flush
Threw its soft glory over all the earth,
How, from brown bulbs
That looked so sere and dull
A hundred tulips
Had their radiant birth;
I will recall the orchard's pale delight—
Trees, that in winter had stood stark and bare,
Bejeweled with a fluted, pearly mass
Of pink-edged petals
Perfuming all the air;
Will close my eyes and see the touch of spring
Throw its bright loveliness
On everything.

I will remember how the larkspur grew—
Under the summer sun—serenely blue;
How roses, velvet-petaled,
Sent a shower of summer sweetness
Upon every hour. How, touched by frosty fingers in the night,
The hillsides flamed with color,
How, bronzed and bright,
They sent protecting leaves
Fluttering down
To wrap the garden in a cloak of brown.

I will remember the first fall of snow;
The cold sweet stillness
Of a winter night
A glittering world
Under the golden light
Of a bright, friendly moon
That hung in the dark sky
Like a great lantern
Swinging safe and high.

Words cannot tell the wonder of it all;
Words are such splendid things,
And yet so small!
Now in my heart
Thanksgiving swells its song—
Thanksgiving for the year's sweet common things—
The waiting earth,
The sudden whir of wings,
The scent of honeysuckle in the lane,
Dear, homely wonders that will come again!





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