Page 39 - Poetry-Country

A Song for Thanksgiving

A song for Thanksgiving. The corn’s garnered in;
The wealth of the wheat-field is safe in the bin;
The cellar is fragrant with odors that rise
From Greenings and Sweetings and plump Northern Spys.
There is hay in the loft; there is wood at the door;
Of all things there’s plenty, and shall we ask more?
Nay, not so, my neighbor. Be thankful, and pay
Earnest tribute to God for his mercies today.

A song for Thanksgiving. To-day they will come
To gather once more by the hearthstone of home.
The “boys” and the “girls” who can never forget
The place that is home of all homes to them yet.
They will gather to-day round the bounty-spread board
And each heart will be glad and give thanks to the Lord
For blessings that sprang up like flowers by the way
And gladdened the hearts that are grateful to-day.

A song for Thanksgiving. The “boys” and the “girls”
Who have frost on their temples and snow in their curls
Bring back to the old home their girls and their boys,
And the old rafters ring with their frolic and noise.
But grandfather laughs with them over their fun,
And grandmother smiles at the mischief that’s done,
And it seems that all hearts have forgotten the gray
And grow young in the gladness of Thanksgiving Day.

A song for Thanksgiving! The old clock strikes one.
There’s a stir and excitement,—the turkey is done!
It steams on the board and makes fragrant the air
With odors a rose might be happy to share.
The gold of the pumpkin gleams out in a pie
That makes little mouths water and gladdens the eye
Of the old boys and girls. O, be thankful, I say,
For God’s best day of all—and that’s Thanksgiving Day.

—([Philadelphia] Agricultural Almanack, 1893)

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