Cherokee Sage Woman

I had plans to write today about how it feels to circle the sun 57 times. My experiences of the past year, from dealing w/ the criminals in high places, to the happiness in relocating to our new home. But I found this poem instead, which just encompassed everything I wanted to say in a more eloquent form.
I hope you like it too. It's my 'Happy Birthday to Me'. ;o)
Indeed, if we are still here on this earth, then that is Spirit's way of letting us know we continue to have work to do. This life is our gift from God. What we do w/ this is our gift back to God. And w/ every breath we exhale a 'thank you'..
~~~~~~~~~

THANKS

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow for the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions.

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
looking up from tables we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us as we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is.
__W.S. Merwin