The Stories of Gratitude

sitting across a wall of books 
hundreds of stories
thousands, millions of words - each written with purpose 

i imagine the creators sitting in coffee shops, secluded offices, the wilderness
pouring their minds energy into these words 
knowing not every person would make the effort to consume their product 
knowing some would retort with criticism and hate 
and they wrote anyways... 

sprawling thoughts, stories, imaginations, histories 
onto pages that could quite possibly never see a printing press 

each author forging on believing in the pure worth of each word written 
not because it scores more points on scrabble or proves a level of intelligence 
just because that one word is crucial for the greater story 
without even the simplest word, the beauty of the story falls like a crumb beneath the pages 

so they string each word together
cherishing each ones existence within the hundreds of pages they’ve produced knowing 
still
that quite possibly very few will also see the worth in these words

yet they are worthy still of time, thought, love 

yet we are worthy still of time, thought, and love 

each word in the world worthy for its mere existence in a book
each person in the world worthy for its mere existence in life 

so quick i realize i am sitting across a wall of gratitude 
every binding screaming “thank you” 
because without every single worthy beautiful sacred word, 
they simply would not exist

​Written by Rae Thomas