Poem: "Joy is the Grace We Say to God" by Ray Bradbury

Joy is the Grace we say to God
for his gifts given.
It is the leavening of time,
it splits our bones with lightning,
fills our marrow
with a harrowing of light
and seeds our blood with sun,
and thus we
put out the night
and then
put out the night.

Tears make an end of things;
so weep, yes, weep.
But joy says, after that, not done...
No, not by any means. Not done.
Take a breath and shout it out.
That laugh, that cry which says: begin again,
so all's reborn, begun.
Now hear this, Eden's child,
remember in thy green Earth's heaven,
All beauty-shod:
Joy is the grace we say to God.