Maya Angelou

Thank You, Lord

Thank You, Lord - meaning Summary

Gratitude Amid Survival

The speaker addresses God in plain, grateful language, celebrating survival, daily blessings, and spiritual mercy. Blackness and named leaders appear early as affirmations of identity and communal faith. The poem contrasts the speaker’s continued life and awakening with others’ deaths, frames a past of sin transformed by divine mercy, and emphasizes thanksgiving for each day, hour, and the promise of life after death.

Read Complete Analyses

I see You Brown-skinned, Neat Afro, Full lips, A little goatee. A Malcolm, Martin, Du Bois. Sunday services become sweeter when You're Black, Then I don't have to explain why I was out balling the town down, Saturday night. Thank you, Lord. I want to thank You, Lord, For life and all that's in it. Thank You for the day And for the hour and for the minute. I know many are gone, I'm still living on, I want to thank You. I went to sleep last night And I arose with the dawn, I know that there are others Who're still sleeping on, They've gone away, You've let me stay. I want to thank You. Some thought because they'd seen sunrise They'd see it rise again. But death crept into their sleeping beds And took them by the hand. Because of Your mercy, I have another day to live. Let me humbly say, Thank You for this day I want to thank You. I was once a sinner man, Living unsaved and wild, Taking my chances in a dangerous world, Putting my soul on trial. Because of Your mercy, Falling down on me like rain, Because of Your mercy, When I die I'll live again, Let me humbly say, Thank You for this day. I want to thank You.

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