Prayer

Whatever happens. Whatever
what is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.

-- Galway Kinnell

from A New Selected Poems (Mariner Books)

This was the poem on the back of my mother's funeral card. She was a high school English teacher, among many other things, so she would have laughed had she seen that the poem, as short as it is, was mangled by the printer, who tried to fix the grammar.

What do I give thanks for? For being part of all this this.
We live in a wonderful world.


Mr. Kinnell's poems resonate, as does his voice.
Always worth a listen.