by Joshua Stelling
Lord
For those at this table
I offer this prayer of thanks
Not for this meal
Though we are grateful
Not for what lay before us
Rather for what we leave behind
Not for what has been given
Today I offer thanks for what we have lost
A father, a son, a sister, a daughter
That we took for granted
We never gave thanks like it was due
Did not say what should have been said
We were not there when we ought to have been
In short, that we regret what is now beyond our reach to repair
This you already know
That we are thankful for what we had
Though the time too short
This you already know
So I offer a different thanks
I thank you for the loss
For the unfinished dreams
For the unhealed hearts
For the time that will not ever pass
For the lesson that winning all is no less transient than losing
Living forever no less temporary than a breath
Tragedy exists in the grace of your love
Immense, like night to embrace a candle
Our unfinished lives are like light from a candle
Or a star that has gone to dust
Will not be fed yet will journey forever
Amen
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