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# Thanks, by W.S. Merwin
- URL: https://joshualore.com/inthemiddleway/listen-with-the-night-falling-we-are-saying/
- Published: 2016-11-24T17:31:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-03T04:10:40.000Z
- Author: Joshua Lore
- Tags: Uncategorized, Gratitude, Merwin, Thanks, Thanksgiving, WS Merwin, #Migrated-1788408094757, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-09-03 00:01

Listen:  
with the night falling we are saying thank you  
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings  
we are running out of the glass rooms  
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky  
and say thank you  
we are standing by the water thanking it  
smiling by the windows looking out  
in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging  
after funerals we are saying thank you  
after the news of the dead  
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you  
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators  
remembering wars and the police at the door  
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you  
in the banks we are saying thank you  
in the faces of the officials and the rich  
and of all who will never change  
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us  
our lost feelings we are saying thank you  
with the forests falling faster than the minutes  
of our lives we are saying thank you  
with the words going out like cells of a brain  
with the cities growing over us  
we are saying thank you faster and faster  
with nobody listening we are saying thank you  
we are saying thank you and waving  
dark though it is.

—WS Merwin, ‘Thanks’