i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
No, you are definetely not naive…I think we still have time to change and preserve this beautiful planet we live on… if we all work together and Thank God for this most amazing…
I love this poem after nearly 40 years. I read it as chaplain at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio around 1968…I was relieved of my duties. Guess it didn’t sound like The Lord’s Prayer.
the first staff of this poem IS MY TATTOO!
I LOVE IT IT’S ACROSS MY FOOT!
reminds me to count my blessings in a way.
We performed Whitacre’s setting of this poem at the ACDA choral festival in Columbia, SC. It’s a gorgeous poem. Cummings’s unique syntax and word juxtapositions blending with Whitacre’s tight chord movements sends chills down my spine. We also sang “hope, faith, life, love” by Whitacre based on a cummings poem. The songs were performed as part of a concert entitled “I Share Creation,” a celebration of life. I can think of no more fitting poem than “i thank You God.”
I like how he described the objects better instead of saying the trees are green and the skies are blue, instead he said the greenly sprits of trees and the blue true dream of the sky.
I just sang this poem (the gwyneth walker arrangement) in All-State and fell in love with the words. It also amazes me that so many other people fell in love with this poem through singing it or hearing it. Music truly affects the soul, especially combined with poetry as outstanding as this is!
This is an absolutely lovely poem and for anyone who cannot bring themselves to appreciate it I highly suggest listening to Eric Whitacre’s “I Thank You God For Most This Amazing Day” and hear how lovely this poem REALLY is. And yes this version is 1,000,000x better than the gwyneth walker version(yes im serious).
this poem makes me feel connected to generations past and future. when i was 11 my mom died. years later one of her friends sent me this poem when i graduated from college. what a wonderful way of saying that her legacy continued through me. i have kept the poem posted at my workplace for years, and this saturday, when i marry my husband, it will be one of the readings at our ceremony.
bits of this poem i had taped to my bedside lamp base for many months.
i would wake & fall asleep to read
the pure
spontaneous
&natural message this poem exudes in its very simplicity & bountifulness !!!
the birthday of wings! the gay great happening
illimitably
earth?!?
the earth changes with time.. i think we still have time to change it for the better & hold on to what is beautiful& fresh. forgive me should i sound naive here… this poem always gives one a kick in the right direction, i think.
I think this poem is weird. Yeah.
This was the first poem that i ever memorized by e. e. cummings. I decided once that i would recite it instead of grace before a meal. However, before i got very far, I could sense that the others were really hungry and somewhat impatient, so I ended the poem rather abruptly. Unfortunately, I was at the part that says: “i who have died am alive again”
I think this poem is beautiful.I don’t really enjoy e e cummings poetry but this is one i am very fond of. I really enjoy the finish of this poem and i think it is ended beautifully.
Hey, this is one of the poems I read to my girlfriend, who is now my wife! Fellas, take note!
My high school all girls choir (which I am apart of) is singing the Gwyneth Walker version of this song. Amazing, simply beautiful. I get goosebumps just listening to the words.
This poem is so “goody” that it just makes me want to throw up. I also hate ho E.E. Cummings uses the freaking liwer case letters. It drives me crazy. Does anyone agree?
i can so relate to how cummings must have been amazed when seeing the world as God’s creation and being in awe of Him.
inside limbs turn toward sun
and neck unravels to see your shine
now i think i’ll drink your Light
Bless me with your smile
One of the first things I noticed about this poem is that the only words that are capitalized in the whole poem are “God” and “You”. Even the title contains only one capitalized word, “God”. This serves to make God stand out as being superior and mighty. This poem just lifts my spirits every time!
The poem is used as the focal point of a contemporary living sculpture by Mitch Ryerson close by eec’s grave in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston Ma. The poem is stamped on copper seat inside a carved out sugar maple tree. A space has been cut inside where a copy of eec’s poetry is left to catch the careful visitor. In such a setting the poem from a sequence- “Religous Leanings” inspires. Three other poems by eec are close by, painted onto pinewood planks, and you climb a gentle slope to read them.
I discovered these on Christmas Day 2005. Appropriate themes of life, light and love.
I just found this discussion and even though it seems it’s been mostly over for a couple of weeks, I have to add to it. I love the way that cummings’ creative use of turning adjectives to adverbs (leaping greenly) takes “alive” to a new dimension… also that things can _be_ “yes”… I feel like what this poem evokes, especially in the last two stanzas, is that there is a kind of alive that is _more_ alive than the somewhat deadened everyday that we go through a lot of times. Being close to God helps us feel that kind of alive; it is both a heightening of senses and maybe even an awakening of senses that aren’t usually used–the ears of our ears and the eyes of our eyes. I love that closeness to God is both humbling and exalting at the same time, and I love that e.e. cummings gives that idea beautiful wings in this poem.
Happy Thanksgiving 2005!!