POEM AND PHOTO BY ED NORTHEN

 I: First Harvest Celebration (1621)

A celebration of survival

after a previous year’s bitterness

refugees arrayed in fine garments

thankful for a harvest

sustenance for the coming winter

gratitude for indigenous friends

a fragile brotherhood

of equality and need

sharing a covenant feast

in a new world

where charity’s potential

hovers

II: Official Declaration October (1863)

High Ideals have failed

justice, liberty and equality

subjugated for centuries

to greed and power

driving out charity’s angel

igniting a Civil war

an angel of death hoovering

over Gettysburg field still sodden with blood

President Lincoln declares

a day of Thanksgiving

repentance and renewal

“with humble penitence

for our national perverseness

 and disobedience,

commend to his tender care

all those who have become widows,

 orphans, mourners or sufferers

 in the lamentable civil strife

 in which we are unavoidably engaged,

and fervently implore the interposition

of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds

 of the nation and to restore it

as soon as may be consistent

with Divine purposes

to the full enjoyment of peace,

 harmony, tranquility and Union.”

III: United States  (2022)

A nation still divided

polarized with civil strive

over equality and justice

Lincoln’s prayer for charity imprisoned

by power, greed

hate and fear.

Yet gratitude

can ignite a spark

which fans a flame

of compassion

kindness

and divine love

which cast out all fear

and never fails