THANKSGIVING FEAST
He sat at the table
Grateful for another year;
But, the empty seats and quiet house
reminded him of Thanksgiving days gone by.
The turkey tasted the same
The TV blared the same football sounds
and the house,
though quiet,
was populated by tables and chairs
that had seen it all.
For a moment in time,
he was transported to a day
when the house was filled
with people
who now spent the day in other locations
spread out among the only ones
who remembered her.
He looked at old photographs
of smiling people
mouthing words of thanks
for another year
and another meal
and another prayer
for lonely fellow travelers
on this earthly marble.
Her photograph
surveyed the new proceedings
and,
he hoped,
blessed the new participants;
he wanted to reach inside the picture frame
and drag her back
from wherever God had taken her.
He only whispered a silent prayer
that his new tradition
would hold back the tears
and that the ghosts of turkeys from the past
wouldn’t sit at every holiday table
until he was just a photograph.