Grateful

Photo by Jessica Felicio on Unsplash

I’m grateful for the contradiction I found in

my thinking today.

Tomorrow, that’s one less thing in my way.

Grateful for losing almost everything in

my life

It taught me to value what and who I have.

Grateful for how your words and music

Reign Over Me

Like rain over me

For yesterday’s lessons

Today’s patience and tomorrow’s blessing.

I’m grateful for my near-death experiences.

For this peace that didn’t come easy.

Honeysuckle on a warm summer breeze.

I’m grateful for this space where I sleep.

Grateful for knowing love and knowledge

Are all I get to keep.

For my solitude.

For these words on my fingertips

For the taste of her lips.

And the swing in her hips

As she confidently walked away from me.

I’m grateful for trees.

For new leaves in the spring.

For the sunsets Gaia paints.

I’m grateful for brains

Neither above nor below my heart.

I’m grateful for art.

For beauty

For when Jiddu Krishnamurti

Said real love knows no duty.

I’m grateful for my Richard Bach books.

For knowing love

No matter how long it took.

I’m grateful for diversity of thought.

For knowing what mystics, prophets, and lyricists mean

When they talk about One.

I’m grateful for my sons.

I’m grateful that I can laugh

Even when everything hurts

Inside and out.

I’m grateful for doubt.

I’m grateful that a few of y’all

Feel the words

That are coming out of my mouth.

I’m grateful for progressives in the south.

I’m grateful for my first love

30 years after she died.

I’m grateful

For wide-open spaces

For surviving all my ACES

With love in my heart.

For the chance to play my part.

For silence when the worlds too noisy.

I’m grateful for that space

Between what I think

And what I say.

I’m grateful

For all the breaths

I took today.

I’m grateful for Sway in the morning.

I’m grateful for mourning

And the contrast it brings.

I’m grateful for how Kina Grannis sings.

For John Legend’s heart.

I’m grateful that every end

Is just how the next thing starts.

I’m grateful for Departures

For 15 months in Abbyville.

I’m grateful for Malik Ameer

Halfway across the world

He changed how I see things from here.

I’m grateful for my inability

To settle for anything less

Than what’s authentic and true.

And even though we don’t know each other

I’m grateful for you.

I’m grateful for Malcolm X

Especially after Mecca.

I’m grateful for the woman

Who gave my mom

The Sugar Hill Gang record.

I’m grateful for my cousin

Who cooked perfect bacon

I’m grateful for safety

But more so for justice.

I’m grateful for Cornel West

Ta-Nehisi Coates

I’m grateful for Imani

Jabril, Jalil, and Dewayne Williamson

For Daryl and Rakim

For Eddie Murphy’s

Movie about Iceberg Slim

For Sly & The Family Stone

I’m grateful that I’m not lonely

When I’m alone.

I’m grateful for Sun Tzu

Alan Watts, Muhammad Ali,

Bruce Lee

And last but not least

I’m grateful for ME.