Our Prayer of Thanks

Carl Sandburg 1878 (Galesburg) – 1967 (Flat Rock)



For the gladness here where the sun is shining at evening on the weeds at the river,
Our prayer of thanks.

For the laughter of children who tumble barefooted and bareheaded in the summer grass,
Our prayer of thanks.

For the sunset and the stars, the women and the white arms that hold us,
Our prayer of thanks.

God,
If you are deaf and blind, if this is all lost to you,
God, if the dead in their coffins amid the silver handles on the edge of town, or the reckless dead of war days thrown unknown in pits, if these dead are forever deaf and blind and lost,
Our prayer of thanks.

God,
The game is all your way, the secrets and the signals and the system; and so for the break of the game and the first play and the last.
Our prayer of thanks.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 09, 2023

44 sec read
84

Quick analysis:

Scheme xA xA xA BxxA BxA
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 748
Words 149
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 4, 3

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor best known for poetry. more…

All Carl Sandburg poems | Carl Sandburg Books

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