No Form – Just Thank You

I changed five nouns in this poem for us, for now: Thanks, from W. S. Merwin. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t mind a bit. It reminds me of Zen teacher Yvonne Rand’s last audible words before she passed away Wednesday evening: “No form – Just thank you”

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from 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 thanking it
standing by the windows looking out in our directions

back in quarantine back from Covid tests
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering fires and the police at the door
in the faces of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
taking our feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the smoke growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
thank you we are saying and waving
dark though it is

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