Offering Thanks To the Lord

Offering Thanks to the Lord Accept my thanks, Merciful Lord, For shielding me oft and anon From the harsh grips of certain death That I may again sing your song, That I may again take a breath To chant your eternal glory And inscribe your inspiring hymns In the endless roll of history. Accept my thanks, Almighty Lord, For again according to me A longer lease of life on board That I gaze at your marvels, A rainbow up high in the sky Or a shooting star that travels Across the distant firmament And then flits away like an angel. My thanks to you, Bountiful Lord, For again showering on me A longer life that I may afford To contemplate at your wonders, The golden sun rising at dawn, The setting sun in a crimson sky Or gentle waves crashing in the morn Against reefs to form a milky stretch. Do accept my thanks, Supreme Lord, For brightening the divine path To reach your heavenly abode Through liberation from the mortal chain, To unite with the Divine Whole, The vast infinity to attain, To merge with the Absolute Soul And eternal bliss to regain. When the chimes of your divine bell Will reach my humble and senile ears, My soul will ever feel no pain To shatter, without any fear, The sturdy shackles of mortal chains In search for its fated destiny Away from the earthly train To the divine eternity, Further beyond the distant space. Written by Krishnanand Guptar in October 2022, after recovery from a major urgent surgery carried out to remove the large intestine somehow stuck with a large hernia. Features in a Collection of Poems “Spirituality and Beyond" in the process of self-publication. 23 January 2023.