Cat: Thanksgiving

By Valerie Worth

From Thanksgiving Poems
Selected by Myra Cohn Livingston
Illustrated by Stephen Gammell

Now, in lean November,
The silent houses
Huddle in despair,
Every front porch
Forlorn, abandoned to
Its mailbox and its mat–
A patch of cold brown
Stubble, uncomfortable
Even to the cat;

But we, indoors,
Have company and clamor,
Fruitfulness and fire,
Luxury to spare–
So that when she
Runs in, complaining,
We offer her our laps,
And stroke her chilly fur,
And feed her turkey-scraps.