I woke up at 5 a.m.
on this Day of Thanksgiving.
I made coffee as I always do.
It took a moment or two
to briefly review the vivid dreams
I had last night, and
once again
quickly dismiss them as nonsense.
The mysteries of dreams, I suppose,
will remain to be mysteries
in spite of Sigmund Freud.

With coffee in my right hand
I wonder what I should thank for.
"Basically everything," I said to myself.
One thing I mustn't forget to thank,
I remind myself,
is the fact that I'm alive and
I'm thinking of all these things.
"O, Good Lord,
I thank you for the gift of this life
and my good parents, brothers and sisters,
grandparents and ancestors
and every blessing YOU have given me
during all of my life."

I watch my wife in sound sleep.
I've never felt so much closeness to her
ever since I met her
some forty eight years ago.
She and I are all alone once again
just as we started out so many years ago.
Yet we do not feel lonely and lonesome
just as we started out so many years ago.
"O, Good Lord,
My wife and I thank YOU
for the life we've had together all these years,
our three children, their spouses, and
our precious five grandchildren."

I pick up the newspapers and
read what's going on in this world I live.
I think of all the friends, all my patients
of some forty years' medical practice
and all my loyal employees, some of whom
have been with me through my career.
"O, Good Lord,
My wife and I and my family thank YOU
for all our friends and
all the good human beings
who have entered our lives
through YOUR grace and
have given us such a good company
in this troubled world."