Gratitude Is A Lovely Beach Poem by Grant House

Gratitude is a lovely beach at the end of a long spring day
Uncommonly blue lifeguard tower still boarded up standing sentinel
Small but longboard rideable waves wrapping the point
Seagulls worrying over scraps and wrappers left behind

These are the hours of appreciation for the otherwise taken for granted things.
Small waves rolling in unridden as schools of surfers swim back to their bicycles and cars
Aimless myriad footprints marbling warm pre-summer sand
Modest and elaborate sand castles waiting for the tide

Today I am grateful for your presence
The very fact of your existence
Long before and long after our calm afternoon stroll along the crescent beach of our lives
This gratitude is becoming the colors of our world
Each moment alive together
Precious
Nothing missing
Everything and everyone included

The secure knowledge that everything will be all right once we get through this time of awakening

The wonder of an incredible generosity of spirit sweeping across the land and sea in the midst of the challenge of our lifetime

Kindness grains of sand filling all the beaches world round
Every lake and sea
All the deserts

Galactic gratitude stretching across the sky above and below our home on earth shining in the cool dark night ahead
More stars out there than grains of sand on all the beaches in all the world
Our friend Carl Sagen said
An abundance of thoughtfulness

This is our newly revealed understanding
We are that gratitude
That universal generosity of spirit
This caring

The days of knowing all this stretch out before us
Alive and refreshing
Right now we stroll along a lovely beach near sunset
If not in reality at least in our hearts together here at home
Long hard day behind us nearly done

We reflect on things that came and went
People we never knew, close friends, and cherished loved ones
All those we said goodbye to

Our lives today
We hope
Have been well spent
Side by side we walk and barely talk
Just me
Those small waves rolling in unridden
And you