by Ellen Maher

We Are Thankful

We pilgrims are thankful

For what you have brought us

We were strangers in a land that was not our home

With your help we have made it

Through the barren winters

We know in the cold to come, we’re not alone.

I thank you for what you have done

I thank you for the rain and the sun

I thank you for the seeds to sow

I thank you for the way you make it all grow

We pilgrims are thankful

For the foods that feed us

For the time to be together

The harvest is here now

And the food is gathered

You have made us ready for any kind of weather

I thank you for what you have done

I thank you for the rain and the sun

I thank you for the seeds to sow

I thank you for the way you make it all grow

LN Maher

©1996 Echoes of the Lion’s Roar

http://lnechoes.blogspot.com/

My daughters, Ellen Maher and Katey Batavia will be visiting over the Thanksgiving week, November 21-27. I am so excited to see them for the first time in almost two years! I will be off WordPress to spend some time with them. A swim with the manatees at Crystal River is planned. It was canceled last time because of Covid 19. We are eagerly looking forward to the trip.

The poem above was written by Ellen. She is an ordained Baptist chaplain and a teacher and administrator in a recovery program that deals with issues such as grief, addiction, and illness. She also volunteers for many special projects at her church. This year she helped to produce a video for a virtual Vacation Bible School during the pandemic. Ellen writes religious poems on her blog, Echoes of the Lion’s Roar.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Response to the Climate Summit

Little Human vs. Global Destruction

Global Destruction, a villian

about as bad as they come,

believed his evil takeover plan

was too big to be undone.

“What do I care, little human,

for your miniscule potential?

Do what little you can;

it’s quite inconsequential!”

Joy sprang like a weed

in the little human’s heart.

He knew humans could succeed

if they all did their part!

Copyright© 2021 by Cheryl Batavia

How Do You Spell Diwali?

Delightful

Insightful

Winsome

Awesome

Lovely

Inspiring!

Happy Diwali!

“Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all“

— Emily Dickinson

Many people are wondering whether it is too late to restore the environment to health. I don’t know the answer, but I HOPE that it is not too late! The poem below is the last of my three environment-themed Halloween Sonnets.

I Remember Rainbows

I live today on earth, a shabby place,

in dreary post-apocalyptic haze,

but I remember glowing rainbow hues,

and sunny skies above, quite clear and blue,

and even if my skies are grey today,

lush rainbow colors flood my dreams always!

No fish are swimming in polluted streams;

in dreams, clear rivers flow to shining seas.

No birds are singing in the leafless trees,

but dream-birds nest in trees of verdant green!

Though even weeds can’t bloom in sterile clay,

I dream of vivid flowers every day

where dream-bees feed in joyous, playful scenes,

and I remember rainbows in my dreams.

Copyright© 2021 by Cheryl Batavia

Alone in a Lost World

Bright rainbow hues have faded now away;

I waken in a world of cheerless grey.

Accursed, I walk beside a stinking sea

where once the dolphins came to swim with me.

From heights I view the valley that was home,

a city veiled in haze, a silent tomb.

Bereft at night beneath a blackened sky,

I seek in vain the twinkling stars on high.

No plea restores the music of the night;

the crickets sing no more! I curse my plight

and long for kindred souls to share my days.

I pray to rise on wings and fly away.

Beloved spirits smile and beckon me

to Heaven in the world that used to be.

Copyright© 2021 by Cheryl Batavia

Halloween Sonnet Festival

Ingrid’s Halloween Sonnet Festival inspired me to learn to write sonnets. Few things scare me more than the impending doom of global warming, climate change, deforestation, species extinction, and pollution. We need to change our ways NOW if we hope to prevent the ubiquitous doomsday predictions from coming true.

Check out the Halloween Sonnet Festival on Ingrid’s blog, experimentsinfiction.com!