Twenty-four.

"...And I give

thanks but it does not seem like adequate thanks,

it doesn't seem

festive enough or constant enough, nor does the

name of the Lord or the words of thanksgiving come

into it often enough. Everywhere I go I am

treated like royalty, which I am not. I thirst and

am given water. My eyes thirst and I am given

the white lilies on the black water. My heart

sings but the apparatus of singing doesn't convey

half of what it feels and means...

there is everywhere the luminous sprawl of gifts,

the hospitality of the Lord and my

inadequate answers as I row my beautiful, temporary body

through this water-lily world."

-mary oliver