To my Body -- a Thanksgiving
"To my Body -- a Thanksgiving" is a lyric poem in which the speaker addresses their own body directly, thanking it despite acknowledging the pain it has caused. The speaker opens by conceding that the body has set many snares, caused many groans, and made feet slip that were dearer to the speaker than its own — the body has been both "sword and gin" to others and to the speaker alike. Even so, the speaker recalls a single decisive thing the body once won for their soul, and offers thanks for it. The speaker then recounts the crisis being described: a time when all the speaker's heavens fell, and each passing hour brought the "Dayspring which is I" nearer to the pit of hell. In that hour the highest cried out unheard, course and goal were lost, hope had fled, and faith had died — yet the body itself redeemed the speaker's soul. The speaker describes how the body accomplished this. It brought the speaker into the snow and forced the blood to pump through them, so that the speaker learned how fierce the flesh could be; the flesh, until then half love and half dread, became an armoured tower to which the wounded spirit fled and found refuge in its bitter hour. The body denied the speaker healing sleep unless they strove all day with thews and muscles to keep the "wolves of thought" at bay. The body crowned itself with strength, lifted itself on high, and won free salvation at last for the poor soul that had thought it was going to die. The speaker affirms that the body worked redemption for them, and that the speaker's healed spirit crept forth into the light, saved by the body from all the hells of night. The speaker declares this will never be forgotten, and so forgives the body's treacheries and thanks it still, since it is through the body that the speaker has found the grace to live. Finally, the speaker looks ahead to a greater wonder still to come: a day when the body will slay what it has now quickened. Just as the body's life once made the speaker whole, so its death shall one day reap, both for the body itself and for the speaker's soul, the last redemption of a long, long sleep.
By Sheila Kaye-Smith · Genre: Religious/Spiritual Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 486 words
First lines
Though thou hast set me many a snare, / And cost me many a groan, / And causéd feet to slip that were / Far dearer than my own -- / Though thou hast been both sword and gin / To others and to me, / Yet I recall what thou didst win / Once for my soul, and I give thanks to thee.
For once, when all my heavens fell, / And each hour that went by / Brought nearer to the pit of hell / The Dayspring which is I -- / When all unheard the highest cried, / When lost were course and goal, / When hope had fled and faith had died -- / Thou, even thou, didst then redeem my soul.
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Genres
- Religious/Spiritual Poetry — The poem's central concern is spiritual redemption and salvation, with explicit references to grace, the soul's healing, and divine salvation through suffering
- Metaphysical Poetry — The poem explores the paradox of body as both torment and instrument of spiritual salvation, examining the profound relationship between physical and spiritual realms through philosophical inquiry
- Lyric Poetry — The work is an intensely personal, introspective meditation expressing the speaker's internal emotional and spiritual states through sustained emotional reflection
- Philosophical Poetry — The poem grapples with fundamental questions about suffering, redemption, embodiment, mortality, and the nature of grace and salvation
Tags
gratitude · contemplative · lyric poetry · bodily experience · self-reflection · appreciation · meditation · personal narrative · literary poem · English literature · pastoral · spiritual
What this Textopian page supports
To my Body -- a Thanksgiving is listed on Textopian as a poem by Sheila Kaye-Smith, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Religious/Spiritual Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Philosophical Poetry, Gratitude/Thanksgiving Poetry
- Length: 486 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for To my Body -- a Thanksgiving by Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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