Have you ever paused to reflect on the simple yet profound act of being thankful?
In a world that often rushes by, poetry offers a beautiful way to embrace gratitude and recognize the blessings in our lives.
Here are 10 poignant poems about thankfulness that resonate deeply, inviting you to appreciate both the little things and the significant moments.
Let’s get straight to it!
My favorite poems about gratefulness
#1 “Per Aspera” by Florence Earle Coates
Thank God, a man can grow!
He is not bound
With earthward gaze to creep along the ground:
Though his beginnings be but poor and low,
Thank God, a man can grow!
The fire upon his altars may burn dim,
The torch he lighted may in darkness fail,
And nothing to rekindle it avail,—
Yet high beyond his dull horizon’s rim,
Arcturus and the Pleiads beckon him.
I chose this poems as my favorite because it expresses the spirit of gratitude by showing how we can grow and rise above our humble beginnings.
The vivid imagery of Arcturus and the Pleiads calling us to reach beyond our struggles really speaks to me, reminding us that being thankful can lead to new opportunities and dreams waiting to be discovered.
9 more poems about gratefulness
#2 “A Little Thankful Song” by Frank L. Stanton
For what are we thankful for? For this:
For the breath and the sunlight of life
For the love of the child, and the kiss
On the lips of the mother and wife.
For roses entwining,
For bud and for bloom,
And hopes that are shining
Like stars in the gloom.
For what are we thankful for? For this:
The strength and the patience of toil;
For ever the dreams that are bliss—
The hope of the seed in the soil.
For souls that are whiter
From day unto day;
And lives that are brighter
From going God’s way.
For what are we thankful for? For all:
The sunlight—the shadow—the song;
The blossoms may wither and fall,
But the world moves in music along!
For simple, sweet living,
(Tis love that doth teach it)
A heaven forgiving
And faith that can reach it!
#3 “Gratitude” by Gray
What is grandeur, what is power?
Heavier toil, superior pain.
What the bright reward we gain?
The grateful memory of the good.
Sweet is the scent of vernal shower,
The bee’s collected treasures sweet;
Sweet music’s melting fall, but sweeter yet
The still small voice of gratitude.
#4 From “For Annie” by Edgar Allan Poe
Thank Heaven! the crisis,—
The danger is past,
And the lingering illness
Is over at last,—
And the fever called “Living”
Is conquered at last.
#5 “To My Wife” by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (Arthur Hubbell Palmer, Translator)
Pray take these pearls! —and my thanks for them
You lavished, the home of my youth to gem!
The thousands of hours of peaceful luster
Your spirit has filled, are pearls that cluster
With beauty blest
On my happy breast,
And softly shining
My brow are entwining
With thoughts whence the truth gleams:
Thus gave his wife,
Who jeweled with tenderest love his life!
#6 “Gratitude” by Stephen Middleton
Tell me why, O tell me why,
Swell these tear-drops on mine eye,
While my heart, from sorrow free,
Beats with joyous extacy?
Tell me why, O tell me why,
Heaves my breast the unchecked sigh,
While within, no earthly care,
Much less pain is rankling there?
Listen! and I’ll tell thee why
Flow these tears, and whence that sigh;
Though my heart, from sorrow free,
Feels sublime felicity.
Gratitude bedims these eyes,
Gratitude impels these sighs,
Gratitude for blessings given,
Gratitude for hopes in heaven.
Unrequited, undeserved,
‘Bove the race of man preferr’d,
‘Bove surrounding thousands bless’d,
Gratitude excites my breast.
Gracious God, may tears arise,
Gracious God, accept my sighs,
Grateful tears for mercy’s store,
Sighs that I deserve no more.
Ever in our circle here,
May warm Gratitude appear,
‘Till our tongues, in realms above,
Hymn in loudest strains thy love.
#7 “I Give Thanks” by Grace Fallow Norton
There’s one that I once loved so much
I am no more the same.
I give thanks for that transforming touch.
I tell you not his name.
He has become a sign to me
For flowers and for fire.
For song he is a sign to me
And for the broken lyre.
And I have known him in a book
And never touched his hand.
And he is dead—I need not look
For him through his green land.
Heaven may not be. I have no faith,
But this desire I have—
To take my soul on my last breath,
To lift it like a wave,
And surge unto his star and say,
His friendship had been heaven;
And pray, for clouds that closed his day
May light at last be given!
And say, he shone at noon so bright
I learned to run and rejoice!
And beg him for one last delight—
The true sound of his voice.
There’s one that once moved me so much
I am no more the same;
And I pray I too, I too, may touch
Some heart with singing flame.
#8 “Thankfulness” by R. C. Trench
Some murmur when the sky is clear
And wholly bright to view,
If one small speck of dark appear
In their great heaven of blue.
And some with thankful love are filled
If but one streak of light,
One ray of God’s good mercy, gild
The darkness of their night.
In palaces are hearts that ask,
In discontent and pride,
Why life is such a dreary task,
And all good things denied.
And hearts in poorest huts admire
How love has in their aid
(Love that not ever seems to tire)
Such rich provision made.
#9 “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud;
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
#10 “Thankfulness” by Jean Blewett
I thank Thee, Lord,
For every joyous hour
That has been mine!
For every strengthening and helpful word,
For every tender sound that I have heard,
I thank Thee, Lord!
I thank Thee, Lord,
For work and weariness
That have been mine!
For patience toward one groping toward the light,
For mid-day burden and for rest of night,
I thank Thee, Lord.