A Gratitude Prayer, written for the holidays, but good at any time of year

A Poem for Your Holiday Reading Pleasure

by Chris Morrow, co-owner of the Northshire Bookstore with stores in Manchester Center, Vt., and Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Gratitude
Can we pause,
breathe,
come back to our hearts
and
offer up a moment
of gratitude.

Beyond the bounds
of hope and fear,
beyond the ring of
the register, and the
call from the bank.
Can we abandon
the habit
to struggle
and, instead, rejoice?

Rejoice in gratitude,
for this breath, and the
next,
for the sun, and snow
for the smiles of
friends and strangers.

Gratitude,
for creating an oasis
    of elegance, of humanity
    of culture, of service
in the desert of
materialism.

Gratitude,
for the beautiful books
arriving every day.

Gratitude,
for the ceaseless flow
through receiving to shelf

Gratitude,
for the patter of
joy
as kids lead parents
to the land of magic
on floor two.

Gratitude,
for the embodied
energy of service
to each other,
to our guests,
to the larger vision.

Gratitude,
for excellent co-workers
and the everyday
co-creating of Northshire Bookstore,
together.

We live, it is said,
in the slime and muck
of the dark age.

But we can light a
candle
of love.
We can pause and appreciate
what it means
what it means
what it truly means
to put the right book
in the right hands
at the right time!