Thanksgiving Pumpkin Poetry

Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year. On this day, people get together, indulge in feasting and thank the heavens for all the blessings in life. Thanksgiving was deemed an official, national holiday in the United States of America during the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln. The holiday is also a grim reminder of the displacement of the Native Americans from their lands, which they bore a deep connection to both, spirit and sustenance. Legend states that, the Native Americans gave up their land and culture for the modern America that is today, despite being spiritually connected with their land. Therefore, people get together, pray and thank the ancestors and the heavens for everything given to them graciously in abundance, and also thank the Lords for the healthy harvests through the year. During Thanksgiving, families get together, carve delicious turkeys, revel in merrymaking and narrate poems to their children. Pumpkins are an inherent part of the Thanksgiving festivities. Here are a few Thanksgiving pumpkin poetries that you can read out for your children this year.

Pumpkin Poems For Thanksgiving

'The Pumpkin' - John Greenleaf Whittier
"Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that this o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

On the banks of the 'Xenil' the dark Spanish maiden
Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;
And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold
Through orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;
Yet with dearer delight from his home in the North,
On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,
Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,
And the sun of September melts down on his vines.

Ah! On Thanksgiving Day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! The old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin,-our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

Then thanks for thy present! None sweeter or better
Ever smoked from an oven or circled a platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o'er its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!"

Pumpkin Seeds
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.
I planted one and pulled the weeds.
It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.
A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.
The pumpkin was quite round and fat.
(I really am quite proud of that.)

But there is something I'll admit
That has me worried just a bit.
I ate the other seed, you see.
Now will it grow inside of me?
(I'm so relieved since I have found, that pumpkins only grow in the ground!)

These are a few Pumpkin poems that you can read out for your children on Thanksgiving this year. With these poems, the kids are sure going to reflect on and understand the spirit of Thanksgiving and of course, the importance of the Pumpkin during the festivities. Happy Thanksgiving!