Thanksgiving - Stephen Kellogg

Oh thanksgiving, the harvest draws to a close

Pride of man will swallow him, for he reaps what he sows

Oh living, it’s harder every day

Only in the darkness can you see you’ve lost your way

I recollect the Rose of Sharon had come back again

The trees were blowing in the breeze all high above my head

When a cavalcade of memories appeared to me in words I wished I’d said

From that point on a song stayed in my thoughts most of the time

But when I tried to sing it out loud it would always leave my mind

Like the things you know are true, but never can explain when you get asked

A melody floating just within your grasp, it goes…

When I was a child I always remember

The way I would feel, 4th Thursday November

My uncles would play, there would be music

And I was taking it in

Only much later, I noticed the drinking

The feeling my family was growing and sinking

St. Petersburg Palace stain glass in sun

They were well on their way I had only begun

So boy meets a girl, Venus and Adonis

Friendship on fire, adulthood upon us

They teach you to fly, then spend all of their time

Standing over you, clipping your wings

Where there was a me, there could be an us

I dreamt about money, she talked about trust

She is my axis, death is by foxes

And we were well on our way, in

America, this is home

Stories, everybody’s got one

This is mine, you will have your own

Nothing like the real thing, nothing like it

Cleaner than Christmas or our wedding day

I knew her father was pissed, though he wouldn’t say it

I would be too and someday I will be

No kid could be good enough

Taking on Sunday, taking on owls

Catching a glimpse of the wolf as it howls

Got a lot of nice things, got a really nice house

Done is so beautiful

On Father’s Day, I’m thinking of mothers

I can only suppose they’re thinking of others

Insurance is up, it came in the mail

Yeah it kills me what they’re charging for little white pills

I blow through the years like a mother defending its own

And I fear, I’m driving on spare tires

Seems like I’ll never get home, like I’ll never get home

Like I’m getting threadbare

I can’t find my way, she showed me the map

I still can’t believe I acted like that

Just follow your heart up past most of the brain

If you get lost at reason, move down past pain

I’ll see you in court, bring your raincoat

I’m keeping the kids, I’m keeping the house

It takes minutes to make us a baby

And years to remember what that was about

America, this is home

Stories, everybody’s got one

When we die what will we have done?

Nothing like the real thing, nothing like it

It’s snowing in April, something’s changing in me

It’s the sound of a heart getting clean baby

I traded in booze for loads of caffeine

And my friends they traded in me

Another Thanksgiving and I’m all alone

My favorite holiday and nobody’s home

No shame in the past, no pride in the future

I know, believe I know

Those years we spent talking, learning to agree

The truth is I’m just thankful you tolerated me

So many thorns, not enough roses

My girls as they sleep, the eye as it closes

This year for Thanksgiving I’m keeping my list short

No one gets married, no one gets divorced

Can you imagine?

What if the world could stand still for even a day?

If there was no crime, no rape and no killing

Addictions suspended, no cutting or drilling

If everyone took the day off and hung out with their friends

Their favorite friends

I know what you’re saying, it’s not realistic

I’ve heard it my whole life, look at the statistics

But lucky for us, I’m not a guy that gives up

I never give up, I go…

Oh Thanksgiving, the harvest draws to a close

Redemption is a bugle humility composed

Sweet forgiveness, thawing across frozen ground

Casting light eternally, carrying its sound