"Otherwise," by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

+ Jane Kenyon

There are many poems about gratitude, about not taking the simple blessings of our lives for granted — but we’ve never come across a better one. In a kind of echo of the ancient Jewish “Dayenu” prayer, with its refrain, “It would have been enough,” Kenyon retrospectively reframes her day, moment by moment, as a series of non-necessary events — which is to say, a cascade of gift after gift. Can we do the same? Even in and through our struggles, there are treasures to be found. A peach, for instance. Or a candlestick. It might have been otherwise.