Victoria Slotto’s prompt post invites me to share a poem written in the second person. She says, “It is less rare to encounter poetry in the second person. As poets, we love to address our “audience,” celebrity figures, other poets or teachers who have an influence on us, people we love (or hate), God, mythological figures, people from our past.” I went through the book of poems that I self-published back in 1997 and found one that I like. Back in that decade, I was extremely rooted in a Christian identity and was rather prolific in my writing to God. These days, I do not identify myself as Christian or even theistic per se, but I still have a great sense of appreciation. The world is an amazing place; the beauty of it often makes me weep. My brain is accustomed to seeking a source for manifestations, but I now realize that is more about me than it is necessarily about the way Life is. I often find myself wondering, “Who do I thank for this?” It’s more likely that there are myriad contributing factors to the conditions that arise, the harmonious conjunction attributable to all of them simultaneously without hierarchy. So I simply say, “Thanks be,” and leave it at that.
The Sky
Did I ever thank you for the sky
spread far around like an open field
piled high with moods and structures,
a playground for my soul?
This space above bids my thoughts expand
to climb the heights of an anvil-cloud
and teeter on the edge of a dazzling glare
or slide down the shafts of the sun,
To swim to the center of its lonely blue
where I find no mist to hide me,
and lie exposed to the western wind
like a mountain braced for sunrise.
Or clad in the shroud of brooding gray,
it coaxes me to musing
far removed from the minutiae
that chains me to my life.
I search for light and openness
to shadow the bonds of earth,
exploring the vault of heaven
for its meaning and its truth.
Thanks for this cathedral speaking glory through its art.
Thank you for these eyes admitting You into my heart.
© 2014, words and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved
scillagrace 
Beautiful words and pictures! Did I recognize Holy Hill amongst them?
You did indeed! That picture is becoming famous in Google visibility, I’m proud to say.
Priscilla, so sorry to be so slow in responding…my Internet connection has been so difficult. This is a beautiful prayer of gratitude with so many beautiful images. Something to return to and even, to add to! And the photography is stunning.
Thanks, Victoria. I like lifting mine eyes again and again for that feeling.
Wow! You did an amazing job with the prompt! The reverence and appreciation showed in every line and I like what you did with the form of the poem, itself. 🙂
Thanks, Corina! Hoping to find time to write some new poems this month, but if not, I still have the appreciation and the art in my heart…if you know what I mean!
Pricilla, what a hymn of graititude this is, perfectly paced and envisioned. It reminds me of Br. David Steindl-Rast’s injuction that if we have only one prayer, let it be one of gratitude. Lovely. Thank for sharing this with us.
Thank you, Jamie. Gratitude seems a natural state, but easily corrupted.