Timothy’s First Thanksgiving

'Twas the day of Thanksgiving, and close by the cat
Not a creature was stirring, not even a rat;
The house was half empty, no one stood on the stair,
In hopes that a far traveled guest soon would be there;

The robot was nestled all snug in its station,
Recharging its batteries with thoughts of vacation;
And a dinosaur (curled up in her nest),
Had just settled down for a long winter's rest,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
the cat sprang from its bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window he flew like the Flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen leaves
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the roofs and the eaves,
When, what to his wondering eyes should appear,
But a giant fat turkey carrying some beer,

‘Hey, what are you doing!’ said the cat now quite bold,
But the giant fat turkey wouldn’t be told,
‘I’m the spirit of thanks, and I bring you good cheer’
It slurred impolitely while chugging some beer.

‘You are in the wrong country!’ said the cat clearly upset,
Was this really a turkey or some fool dressed up for a bet?
‘I was going to Brooklyn’ said the turkey with care,
‘But my wings are too stubby to fly all the way there...’.

‘..I live on the farm, just down the path,
and I thought a US Thanksgiving would be kind of a laugh.’
The cat understood then that the turkey was drunk,
Its movements erratic and its breath clearly stunk.

‘It was either stay there and wait till it's Yule,
and hang around gobbling for a month like a fool,
Or set off to the land of my ancestral home,
But I swiftly got lost and found myself all alone.’

The cat was confused but not unsympathetic,
And frankly the turkey’s tale was pathetic,
He didn’t have the heart to explain quite in depth,
That Thanksgiving involved the inebriated bird’s death.

‘OK’ said the cat, 'As November is shit,
Let’s all have a party to give thanks to it.’
And that’s what they did and they ate pumpkin pie
Which sounded disgusting but they gave it a try.

The robot, the puppy, the dino, the man,
Ate cranberry sauce they got from a can,
Then all back to sleep because they’d eaten too much,
And the turkey slept too, in an old rabbit hutch.

But the cat stayed awake, feeling some need,
Confused that for once, that he had done a good deed.
And softly he said, though it gave him a fright,
'Thanksgiving to all turkeys and to all turkeys good night…'

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