Thanksgiving
Supine in the steam room of the Health and Fitness Center
Alert to the probability of another dizzy spell
I say thanks for this steam and wet warmth
Embracing me, like your love.

I offer thanks for my toes
They are not beautiful toes.  My right foot is disgustingly
Blue from the workout and from being long on my right foot.

I am grateful for the noise of the steam room
For the perfect and transient droplets accumulated
Upon the tile ceiling
For the wooden benches three stoutly serving me and my kind.

Thanks for the gasoline in the Honda which brought me here
For the great resplendent and familiar sun star which lit my way
For the uneven road that prompted me to remember the valleys
And mountains of your love.

I thank you for breathing into me as I rode here
Thoughts of the vastness of your creation
Of the incredible tenderness of the sun's light
Of the regularity of the traffic lights.  How the curbs channel
Me and the streets toward your glory.

James Bolner, Sr.
January, 1994