Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THANKSGIVING NIGHT, by WILBUR DICK NESBIT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THANKSGIVING NIGHT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Last night I got to thinking, when I couldn't go to sleep
Last Line: That told me they were with me, and were very, very near.
Subject(s): Holidays; Thanksgiving Day


LAST night I got to thinking, when I couldn't go to sleep,
Of the way Thanksgiving served me in the days when joy was cheap --
Of how we'd have a turkey, and of how I'd beg a taste
Whenever they would open up the oven door to "baste"
The bulging breast, and how then from the oven came a drift
Of tantalizing odor, such as only boys have sniffed.

I got to thinking of it -- for I couldn't go to sleep --
Of mince pies in the pantry, where I'd sidle in and peep,
And jelly and plum butter, and the peach preserves and cake --
And then I got to thinking of how fine 'twould be to take
A trip back to the old days, when the dancing candle light
Played pranks with all the shadows on the wall, Thanksgiving night.

The boys I used to play with! I could shut my eyes and see
The whole troop of them waiting and a-waving hands to me;
All freckled, ragged trousered, with their scarfs and mittens, too,
They made a splendid picture -- but the picture wasn't true;
For they've grown up, as I have, and strange paths have lured our feet --
The paths that find To-morrow, and that never, never meet.

I wondered if they also were not lying half awake
And thinking of the turkey, and the jelly, and the cake;
And if they had their fancies of the lazy little street
That leads beneath the maples where the topmost branches meet --
And suddenly I heard them -- heard the mur murs low and clear,
That told me they were with me, and were very, very near.





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