Thanksgiving Verse by J.K. Foran

Poetry for this Thanksgiving Day by J.K. Foran, KC, Lit D, LL D., from the posthumously published collection A Garland: Lectures and Poems (Montreal: Gazette, [1931]).

THANKSGIVING 

      For the sound of waters rushing

            In bubbling beads of light;

      For the fleets of snow-white lilies

            Firm anchored out of sight;

      For the reeds among the eddies,

            The crystals on the clod;

      For the flowing of the rivers,

            I thank Thee, O my God!

      For the rosebud’s break of beauty,

            Along the toiler’s way;

      For the violet’s eye that opens

            To bless the new born day;

      For the bare twigs that in summer

            Bloom like the prophet’s rod;

      For the blossomings of flowers,

            I thank Thee, O my God!

      For the lifting up of mountains

            In brightness and in dread;

      For the peaks where snow and sunshine

            Alone have dared to tread;

      For the dark and silent gorges

            Whence mighty cedars nod;

      For the majesty of mountains,

            I thank Thee, O my God!

      For the splendor of the sunsets,

            Vast mirrored on the sea;

      For the gold-fringed clouds that curtain

            Heaven’s inner majesty;
      For the molten bars of twilight,

            Where thought leans glad, yet awed;

      For the glory of the sunlight,

            I thank Thee, O my God!

      For the earth and all its beauty,

            The sky and all its light;

      For the dim and soothing shadows

            That rest the dazzling sight;

      For unfading fields and prairies,

            Where sense in vain has trod;

      For the world’s exhaustless beauty,

            I thank Thee, O my God!

      For an eye of inward seeing,

            A soul to know and love;

      For these common aspirations

            That our high heirship prove;

      For the hearts that bless each other

            Beneath Thy smile, Thy rod;

      For the amaranth saved from Eden,

            I thank Thee, O my God!

      For the hidden scroll, o’erwritten

            With one dear name adored;

      For the heavenly in the human,

            The Spirit in the Word;

      For the tokens of Thy presence

            Within, above, abroad;

      For Thine own great gift of being,

            I thank Thee, O my God.

Sadly, I don't own a copy of A Garland. Happily, it can be read online at Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec through this link. Their copy was a gift to the Bibliothèque de la ville de Montréal from Dusty Bookcase favourite Ethel Ursula Foran, Dr Foran's daughter.

Related posts:

Dr  Logan's Ode for Thanksgiving Day
An Old Thanksgiving Ode by James McIntyre

Jean Blewett's 'Thanksgiving Song'

Jean Blewett's 'Thanksgiving Prayer'

Edna Jaques' Award-Winning Thanksgiving Verse

Thanksgiving in the Midst of War
'October in War Time'

A Thanksgiving Hymn

Thanksgiving Day Advice

'Thanksgiving Morn'

An Expatriate Canadian Poet's New England Thanksgiving

for Canadian Thanksgiving