Let Us Give Thanks
By Max Coots
Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:
For children who are our second planting, and, though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.
Let us give thanks:
For generous friends…with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us we had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn — and the others — as plain as potatoes, and so good for you.
For funny friends, who are as silly as brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who — like parsnips — can be counted on to see you through the long winter;
For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils, and hold us despite our blights, wilts, and witherings;
And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past, that have been harvested — but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.
Source: the late Rev. Max Coots, who was Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton, New York. His passion for gardening yielded this beloved and much used meditation.
A facebook friend of mine shared this poem and I thought it was kind of perfect for today.
Happy Thanksgiving my friends!
Love, Michele
The Salem Garden 
Have a happy, safe holiday and keep the gasoline handy for the snow blower. 🙂
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HI Judy! Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Michele
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Hi Michele, I hope you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving! I love this post and I think I shall reblog it! Xx Dana
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Reblogged this on Mom in the Garden and commented:
As an American, it is in my blood that Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday of November. But as a part of a busy family living in Ireland, we’ll be celebrating this weekend. So for now, I offer your this short blog post.
I would like to reflect on my many blessings, and family and friends are, of course, the most wonderful blessings of all! This poem, posted by my blogging friend Michele of The Salem Garden, made me smile and think of all of my friends in very different ways! and since it is all gardening related I simply love it!
May my American family and friends, near and far, enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving.
In peace,
Dana
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A very belated thank you so much for the re-blog Dana!!! I loved it too! Happy Holidays! xo Michele
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Have a very happy and peaceful Thanksgiving Michele.
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Thank you! It was! now we’re on the Christmas! Happy Holidays to you Jessica!!
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