20 Thanksgiving poems to share at dinner this year

With fall in full swing, what better way to enjoy sweater weather, the grand finale of leaves and all things pumpkin spice than diving in to some thanksgiving poems to get you in the mood for the season?

To help get you started, we’ve gathered a list of verses and quotes that celebrate the spirit of Thanksgiving — which, like the name implies, is all about thankfulness.

These poems will help direct your thoughts to the goodness around you and offer a little boost in the gratitude department.  

Perfect for sharing at the Thanksgiving table or reading on your own, these rhymes and verses range from reflections on the power of gathering together to delightful descriptions of food that may fill your plate on Turkey Day.

Feel free to use one as a Thanksgiving greeting, or find inspiration from these thoughtful (and sometimes funny) poems in composing a social media caption for all the photos you’ll undoubtedly post of the big day on Instagram.

However you choose to enjoy these meaningful sentiments this year, they’re sure to rouse a harvest of feels as you cozy up to this bountiful collection of poems.

‘Thanksgiving Day’ by Lydia Maria Child

“Over the river and through the wood,

To grandfather’s house we go;

The horse knows the way

To carry the sleigh

Through the white and drifted snow.”

Read the full poem at Poetry Foundation.

‘Thanksgiving for Two’ by Marjorie Saiser

“What we didn’t see was this day, in

our pajamas if we want to,

wrinkled hands strong, wine

in juice glasses, toasting

whatever’s next,

the decades of side-by-side,

our great good luck.”

Read the full poem at Poetry Foundation.

‘The Soldier’s Thanksgiving’ by Lydia Baxter

“Our table, though humble, we’ll thankfully fill,

While home, with its loved ones, our bosoms shall thrill;

We’ll join in the banquet they freely bestow,

Then onward to duty we’ll joyfully go.”

Read the full poem at the Library of Congress.

‘Thanksgiving’ by Edgar Albert Guest

“Home from the east land an’ home from the west,

Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.

Out of the sham of the cities afar

We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.”

 Read the full poem at Poetry Foundation.

‘The Traveling Onion’ by Naomi Shihab Nye

“It is right that tears fall

for something small and forgotten.

How at meal, we sit to eat,

commenting on texture of meat or herbal aroma

but never on the translucence of onion,

now limp, now divided,

or its traditionally honorable career:

For the sake of others,

disappear.”

 Read the full poem at Poets.org.

 ‘Perhaps the World Ends Here’ by Joy Harjo

“Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.”

Read the full poem at Poetry Foundation.

‘A Song of Thanks’ by Edward Smyth Jones

“For the pumpkin sweet and the yellow yam,

For the corn and beans and the sugared ham,

For the plum and the peach and the apple red,

For the dear old press where the wine is tread … “

 Read the full poem at Poets.org.

‘Thanksgiving Turkey’ by George Parsons Lathrop

“Let our laughter

 Leap like firelight up again.

Soon we touch the wide Hereafter,

Snow-field yet untrod of men:

Shall we meet once more—and when?—

To eat Thanksgiving turkey.”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.  

‘When Giving is All We Have’ by Alberto Rìos

“Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,

Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.

Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you

What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.

‘A Thanksgiving Poem’ by C.S. Vincent

“In sixteen hundred twenty-three,

The corn-fields yielded plenteously,

The pumpkins looked like balls of gold,

Wild turkeys came in flocks untold,

Dire famine fled to parts unknown,

So plenty everywhere was strown,

And every heart rejoiced and sang

Till with thanksgiving forests rang.”

Read the full poem at the Library of Congress.

‘Thanksgiving Time’ by Langston Hughes

“When the pantry jars are full of mince-meat and the shelves are laden with sweet spices for a cake,

When the butcher man sends up a turkey nice and fat to bake,

When the stores are crammed with everything ingenious cooks can make,

It’s Thanksgiving Time!”

Read the full poem at Lehigh University.

‘Thanksgiving’ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“But blessing are like friends, I hold,

Who love and labor near us.

We ought to raise our notes of praise

While living hearts can hear us.”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.

‘Testify’ by Eve L. Ewing

“& still we are golden

& a man who wore the walk

of hard grounds & lost days

came toward me in the street

& said ‘girl what a beautiful

day’ & i said yes, testify”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.

‘Miracles’ by Giannina Braschi

“Like finding camaraderie and solidarity among friends you never thought could be your friends.

Like understanding the other—not loving the other—but putting yourself in the

shoes of the other—not to take their position—not to steal what the other

has—but to feel what the other feels—to appreciate his thoughts.”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.

‘Thanksgiving’ by Bessie Lawrence

“Oh, the golden heart-warming autumn days!

The air is full of a dreamy haze:

So quiet the noisy brooklets seem,

We hear their dashing as in a dream.

The sloping hill-sides, and mountains grand,

In a blaze of glory gorgeous stand,

Red, and yellow, and golden brown,

A mass of color fluttering down …”

Read the full poem at the Library of Congress.

‘i thank you God for most this amazing day’ by E.E. Cummings

“i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes.”

Listen to the full poem at Poetry Foundation.

‘Thanks’ by W.S. Merwin

“with the animals dying around us

our lost feelings we are saying thank you

with the forests falling faster than the minutes

of our lives we are saying thank you

with the words going out like cells of a brain

with the cities growing over us

we are saying thank you faster and faster

with nobody listening we are saying thank you

we are saying thank you and waving

dark though it is”

Read the full poem at www.poets.org.

‘America, I Sing Back’ by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

“Oh, but here I am, here I am, here, I remain high on each and every peak,

carefully rumbling her great underbelly, prepared to pour forth singing—

and sing again I will, as I have always done.

Never silenced unless in the company of strangers, singing

the stoic face, polite repose, polite, while dancing deep inside, polite

Mother of her world. Sister of myself.”

Read the full poem at Poetry Foundation.

‘The Raincoat’ by Ada Limón

“ … and I saw a mom take her raincoat off

and give it to her young daughter when

a storm took over the afternoon. My god,

I thought, my whole life I’ve been under her

raincoat thinking it was somehow a marvel

that I never got wet.”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.

‘Red Brocade’ by Naomi Shihab Nye

“Your plate is waiting.

We will snip fresh mint

into your tea.”

Read the full poem at Poets.org.

Celebrate the season of thanks