There Is Joy

This morning I came across a lovely poem by Anne Sexton, “Welcome Morning.” She writes,

“There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry “hello there, Anne”
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard,
dies young.”

Anne Sexton won the Pulitzer Prize and was very popular during her lifetime. She was also diagnosed and wrote about being bipolar and depressed and ultimately ended her life at 46.

What is fascinating in this poem reveals in the midst of the turmoil of Sexton’s life, she knew and felt the importance of gratitude and naming the reality and potential of joy.

The question for all of us, as it was for Sexton, is does this recognition and sentiment outmuscle, shall we say, and prevail, over our darker thoughts. Do we begin each day acknowledging that gratitude and joy exist and therefore set the unfolding of the day within such a frame.

——

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