Prayers of a Mother in Fall: In Praise of the Gift Outright

By Emma Lou Thayne

You remind me, my child—sometimes the best

is to take things as they are, unperplexed.

Not looking for an echo

behind the mountain.

Only hearing the drip of leaves

and the stream roaming

where just the birds breathe

in the fragrance of wet pines.

Delighting in His evident gifts to this world.

Whether the butterfly can hear grass parting with wind

or the trout rejoice in the smell of rain

or eternity be sorted now

is sometimes exciting to consider.

But fluttering and swimming are so clearly live.

And I am so wordlessly happy.

Reprinted from A Woman’s Place by Emma Lou Thayne, C. Nishan Grey, Inc., Salt Lake City, 1977. Used by permission.