Thanksgiving Day

The soft, gray dawn of Thanksgiving Day
Has parted the curtains of night,
And the world awakes with its hopes and fears,
Beginning its life of smiles and tears
With the new-born morning's light.

There are cheerful hearts and lives that are glad
Which wake to this day of praise;
There are those whose hearts for a weary while
Have long forgotten the joy and smile
Of life's sunshiny days.

Some of us walk in sun-lit paths
Where flowers grow bright and fair;
And some of us tread with tired feet
Where shadow and sorrow daily meet,
And the flowers of life are rare.

Let those who gather the joys of life
So easily day by day,
Remember the lives that are grieved and sad,
And remembering, strive to make them glad,
And lighten the somber gray.

Which hints the hearts of the lonely poor,
And hides from their eyes of light
That God hath given to shine for all,
As over the world the sunbeams fall
To scatter the shades of night.

(By Mary Dow Brine 1816-1913)