Thanksgiving

 Thankful for the snow-monkeys of Japan

There is much for which I am thankful
the red and gold leaves of the crepe myrtle
dancing in the breeze beyond our window 
our cozy home my husband asleep upstairs
provider of eggs salmon biscuits and fig jam
home-made eggnog and apple-cranberry pie 
the seven Buddhas I can see from my table
all of our art from around the world crowded
on our walls and bookshelves filled with erudition
all the knowledge contained therein some of it
spilling into my mind each day with the sense
of history for which I am always thankful
thankful for music thankful for poetry
thankful for all the arts gracing  humankind
for Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde
for Jessye Norman singing Vier letzte Lieder
for Mozart Ravel Poulenc Kurt Weill Miles Davis
Sigur Ros Radiohead Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell
thankful  as well for exploring the planet
thankful for Seattle gardens and Mount Rainier
thankful for Japan's Nara Tokyo Mount Fuji
for Tōdai-ji Kasuga Taisha  and Ueno Park
thankful for  hot lava we saw flowing in Hawaii
thankful for the sunset from the peak of Mauna Kea
thankful for the calving glacier in Argentina
thankful for the wild kangaroo hopping up
to us in New South Wales for bread she took
to the shore to share with others sunning there
thankful for hiking in dozens of national parks
thankful for Zion's buffalo for Bryce Canyon's snow
thankful for the high Hopi villages we visited
thankful for all the archetypal bridges we crossed
thankful for sailing to Byzantium for 
the Blue Mosque and the interior of Hagia Sophia
thankful for the Pagan Pantheon and the Parthenon
thankful for the manifestation of archetypes
thankful for all the clear blue waters in which
we swam naked in the Mediterranean
thankful for Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum
whom Darryl encountered in ancient tombs in Egypt
thankful for the freedom of Amsterdam for the
grandeur of Paris and Rome for the theater worlds
of London and New York the vast museums
thankful for totem poles Vancouver to Alaska
thankful for climbing the ruins of Mexico
Monte Alban and Teotihuacan thankful
that sublimity does not require permanence 
that it is astonishing for its transient existence
thankful for the plenitude the fulfillment of love
of friendship from those alive those who have died 
thankful that I am not deluded with thoughts
of gods who whimsically bring suffering
thankful to know that all forms of government
lead inevitably to the extinction of humans 
thankful to be free of expectations of an after-life
thankful for my love of nature in all its diversity
thankful for dolphins elephants and Bonobos
thankful that our full consummations here 
in this odd life in D. H. Lawrence's words 
will not tarnish or pass  away just yet thankful
to have burst joy's grape against my palate fine
grateful for a long life of philosophy shared
learning and love in revelations of dialog rich
in the dialectic of forms and bold expressions
thankful for the Oracle of Delphi the life of Buddha
the acumen and the atheism of the existentialists
thankful for Oscar Wilde James Baldwin Iris Murdoch
Haruki Murakami and Gabriel García Márquez
thankful for humility over hubris thankful
that in the end I have no definitive answers none
thankful for a sense of humor for a sense of irony
thankful for having lived at Mercer's Moon River
wider than a mile thankful for the Moon
thankful for the sun planets stars clusters of
light to shine on long after all our races are done
and thankful for a relaxing hot bath in essential oils

Darryl and the Parthenon