You crown the year with your bounty.

Psalm 65:11

As I continue my “Poems, Prayers, Psalms, and Promises” series into this new year, I am sharing the last of the poems written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and published posthumously in his “Letters and Papers from Prison.” To me, this is one of the most poignant of his poems, particularly because of the circumstances in which it is written. From a prison cell as he prepared to welcome another new year – his last on this earth, as it would turn out – towards the end of a terrible war, and anticipating a trial for his part in a plot to overthrow Adolph Hitler. In the midst of all of this, Bonhoeffer is still able to share his belief that he is surrounded “by faithful, quiet powers of good.” And so, even in that terrible situation, he can still share his simple…