e e cumming: i thank you god

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 I thank you, God (choral arrangement of the e. e. cummings poem) (poem text)

This song has stayed with me for more than fifty years.

Chorus was an important part of my life in high school and college. I was not the strongest singer, but that was never the point. I loved being one voice in a larger community—hearing the harmony fill the auditorium, feeling the music resonate, and knowing that each person contributed something essential to the whole.

This piece was especially meaningful because it celebrates the beauty and majesty of the natural world while expressing gratitude to a higher power for making it possible. Even today, when I sing it, it reminds me to pause and appreciate both creation and the privilege of being part of something larger than myself.

My mother had introduced me to many of her favorite poets while I was growing up, nurturing a love of poetry that has stayed with me throughout my life. Because I was constantly singing this piece around the house, she bought me a copy of the complete works of e. e. cummings.

I have opened this wonderful gift over and over through the past 50 years, enjoying cummings' unique voice and playful experimentation with language. I'm currently reading the collection straight through—a project that will probably take me about three years.

The book itself has become part of my own story. Throughout the years I have filled its margins with sketches, so opening it today is a little like opening a journal. Alongside cummings' poetry I sometimes discover a drawing of a flower or one of my own designs from decades ago.

For me, this song represents community, gratitude, a love of nature, and a lifelong appreciation of poetry.

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