Thanksgiving Poems: 29 Short, Funny and Grateful Poems for the Table

Thanksgiving poems are short verses of thanks to read before the meal, write in a card or share in class. Below are 29 original Thanksgiving poems written for this page: short card verses, graces for the table, gratitude poems for family and friends, funny poems about turkey and leftovers, poems for kids and classrooms, and two Thanksgiving acrostic poems.

There are also three classic Thanksgiving poems, checked word for word against early editions, and tips for reading a poem at dinner. In 2026, Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. For a poem with your family's names and jokes in it, try our free AI poem generator.

On this page:

• Short Thanksgiving poems for cards and place cards
• Thanksgiving grace and blessing poems
• Gratitude poems for family and friends
• Funny Thanksgiving poems
• Thanksgiving poems for kids and classrooms
• Thanksgiving acrostic poems
• Classic Thanksgiving poems
• How to share a poem at the table
• FAQs

Short Thanksgiving poems for cards and place cards

Short Thanksgiving poems fit inside a card, on a place card or in a text to someone who can't make it home.

1. A Seat at Our Table

We saved a seat, we set a plate,
We'll hold the gravy if you're late.
Of all the things we're thankful for,
It's you who's walking through the door.

2. Place Card Verse

We wrote your name and set it here:
The table's better when you're near.

3. For Someone Far Away

The turkey's in, the table's set,
There's one thing missing: you. And yet
We'll pass a plate and say your name
And feel you near us just the same.

4. Small Things

I'm thankful for the feast and pie,
And all the small things passing by:
A friend who calls, a coat that's warm,
A stack of wood before a storm.

5. Card for the Host

You basted, baked and mashed and stirred,
And never said a grumpy word.
So here's a thank-you, plain and true:
The best part of the feast was you.

6. A Wish for Your Thanksgiving

May plates be full and worries small,
With pie enough to share with all.

Want one with a name or an inside joke in it? Let the generator write the first draft.

Write your own Thanksgiving poem, free

Thanksgiving grace and blessing poems to read before the meal

A short grace gives everyone a moment to settle before the food goes round. The first two are Christian prayers, the third suits a table of mixed beliefs, the fourth is for a small child and the last is read while everyone holds hands.

7. Before We Eat

For food upon this table spread,
For hands that baked the pie and bread,
For all the faces gathered here,
We thank you, Lord, for one more year.

Amen.

8. A Thanksgiving Prayer for the Table

Lord, bless the farmer and the field,
The trucker and the road,
The hands that filled the market shelves
And lifted every load.

Bless those who cooked since morning light,
Who basted, stirred and tried,
And those who'll scrub the pans tonight
With someone at their side.

And bless the ones who eat alone
Or far from home today;
Lord, make our tables wide enough
To welcome them, we pray.

Amen.

9. A Blessing for Any Table

Before we eat, let's pause a while
And look around the room and smile
At every face we love to see,
At this whole noisy family.

For hands that cooked, for those who came,
For every voice and every name,
For food enough and more to spare:
We're thankful. Let that be our prayer.

10. A Grace for Little Ones

Turkey, stuffing, rolls and peas:
Thank you, God, for all of these!
Thank you for the folks I love,
And the pie I'm dreaming of.

11. Hands Around the Table

Reach out and take the nearest hand,
The small one or the old,
The one that's sticky from the rolls,
The one that's always cold.

Hold on and let the circle close
Around the food and light;
We're one long chain of thankful hands,
Unbroken for tonight.

After the last line, go around the circle and let each person name one thing they are thankful for this year.

Gratitude poems for family and friends

These thankful poems are for the people at the table: the one who cooked, the grandparents, your partner, the friends you chose and someone who is missed this year. The last one is a gratitude poem for any ordinary day.

12. For Mom, Who Cooked All Day

By eight the house smelled sweet with sage,
By noon the pies were cooling,
And you, with flour on every page
Of Grandma's book, were ruling.

You never sat. You barely ate.
You checked on every dish.
You found a fork, you found a plate,
And granted every wish.

So sit. Put up your feet. Tonight
The dishes are on us.
You made this whole day warm and bright
And never raised a fuss.

For her birthday, Mother's Day or no reason at all, see our poems for Mom.

13. Grandpa Carves the Turkey

Each year our grandpa takes the knife
And stands to carve the bird,
And tells us how he met his wife;
We know it word for word.

Then Grandma laughs and says, "Not true!"
And tells it her own way,
And somewhere in between the two
The truth is tucked away.

So thank you both for every year,
For every story told,
For keeping all your grandkids near
As all of us grow old.

14. For My Partner at Thanksgiving

You make the gravy, smooth and thick;
I burn the rolls. It's quite a trick.
You find my keys and warm my toes
And laugh at puns that, heaven knows,
Are pretty bad. So here's my toast,
The thing I'm thankful for the most:
It isn't pie. It's always you,
And all the little things you do.

15. Home for Thanksgiving

Four hours on the highway,
two coffees, one wrong exit,
and then the porch light
my father still leaves on
as if I were sixteen
and late.

The door sticks the way it always has.
The hall smells of onions and wet coats.
Someone shouts my name from the kitchen
before I have set my bag down.

All year I have been thankful
in a general way.
This is the specific way.

16. Friendsgiving

We've got six folding chairs and a borrowed card table,
A turkey we cooked with the help of the label,
Three pies from the store and a salad from Jen,
And a promise we'll do this whole thing again.

Not a single one here shares a nose or a name,
But we've carried each other all year just the same,
Through the breakups and moves and the jobs and the flu,
So tonight, raise a glass: I am thankful for you.

For more poems about friends who feel like family, see our friendship poems.

17. The Empty Chair

If someone is missing from the table this year, this one can be read quietly before the grace.

We still set out your coffee cup,
The blue one, chipped and old,
And someone tells the turkey joke
The way you always told.

Your chair is empty, but the room
Is full of what you gave:
Your apple pie, your awful puns,
The recipes we save.

So when we bow our heads tonight,
Your name will be in there:
We're thankful for the years you sat
Beside us in that chair.

18. A Gratitude List for an Ordinary Day

Thank you, I tell the furnace
when it clicks on at six.
Thank you to the bus driver
who waited while I ran,
and to my knees,
which still work, mostly.

It is easy to be grateful
for the big things:
the job, the house, the good news from the doctor.
It is harder, and better,
to be grateful for the furnace.

Funny Thanksgiving poems about turkey, pie and leftovers

Funny Thanksgiving poems go down best after the meal, when everyone is full and a little slow. For more laughs the rest of the year, see our funny poems.

19. A Word from the Turkey

I've heard all the talk of the feast in the fall,
And I'd like to suggest, if I may, to you all:
Have you thought about ham? Or a big pot of chili?
Or tacos? Or noodles? I'm not being silly.

I have feathers to fluff and a strut to perfect,
And a wobbly red wattle that earns some respect.
So this year, when you plan, could you please pass me by?
I'll be out in the yard. Go ahead. Have the pie.

20. The Wishbone

We pulled the wishbone, Sis and I.
It snapped. She won. I'll tell you why:
She wished that she would win once more.
(It's what she wished the year before.)

21. Uncle Lou: A Thanksgiving Limerick

A limerick has five lines. The first, second and fifth rhyme, and the short third and fourth lines rhyme with each other (AABBA).

There once was an uncle named Lou
Who said, "Just a small slice will do."
Then he went back for pie,
And again, by and by,
Then he snored through the Lions game, too.

22. Ode to Leftovers

O turkey sandwich, cold and grand,
The finest food in all the land,
You're better than the feast, it's true,
And no one has to cook for you.

By Saturday you're turkey pie,
By Sunday, turkey on the rye,
By Monday, in the lunch I pack,
You're turkey wrap. You're coming back.

By Wednesday, bird, I've had my fill,
And there you sit, enormous still.
So thank you, friend, for all you gave.
The freezer's next. Be cold. Be brave.

Thanksgiving poems for kids and classrooms

Thanksgiving poetry for kids should be short, bouncy and easy to remember. These Thanksgiving poems for kids work for preschool circle time, a class bulletin board or a child's turn to speak at dinner.

23. Gobble, Gobble (an Action Rhyme)

Do the actions as you say each line. The last line settles everyone down again.

Gobble, gobble, flap your wings,
Strut around like turkey kings,
Shake your feathers, tap your toes,
Wiggle, waggle, touch your nose,
Gobble, gobble, turn around,
Then sit down without a sound.

24. My Turkey Hand

Read this one with the handprint turkey craft.

I put my hand flat on the page
And traced around it, slow.
My thumb's his head. My fingers? Those
Are feathers in a row!

I colored them in red and brown
And orange, gold and green,
And now he is the finest bird
That you have ever seen!

25. Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie,
Cooling where it's way up high.
Can I have some? Not yet. Why?
I will wait. (I'll try. I'll try.)

26. I Am Thankful (a Class Poem)

Read this example aloud, then have each child add a couplet that starts "For the" or "For my" and put the lines together on the wall.

I am thankful for my bed
And the pillow for my head,
For the pancakes, hot and sweet,
For the friend who saves my seat,
For the leaves I tumble through,
For the sky so wide and blue,
For my family, big and small:
I am thankful for them all.

27. Three Thanksgiving Haiku

A haiku has three lines of five, seven and five syllables. Count each line on your fingers with the class, then try writing one together.

Cold morning window.
The house smells of cinnamon
before I wake up.

Geese cross the gray sky,
a long V pointing somewhere
warmer than this field.

Grandma, sleeves rolled up,
presses a fork round the crust:
small lines, like a smile.

Thanksgiving acrostic poems

In an acrostic poem, the first letters of the lines spell a word down the left side. Here is a rhyming Thanksgiving acrostic for THANKFUL and a free verse one for THANKSGIVING.

28. THANKFUL: A Rhyming Acrostic

Turkey roasting, slow and brown,
Hugs from cousins back in town,
Apple cider, warm and gold,
Nights that turn the windows cold,
Kids out raking leaves in piles,
Funny faces, crooked smiles,
Up past bedtime, stars up high,
Last of all: one slice of pie.

29. THANKSGIVING: A Free Verse Acrostic

Tables pushed together so everyone fits,
Hands reaching for the rolls at once,
A toast that runs a little long,
Names of the ones who aren't here, said softly,
Kids under the table with the dog,
Stories we have heard nine times and want again,
Gravy on the good tablecloth,
Inside, the windows fogged with steam,
Voices overlapping, nobody listening, everybody heard.
It's loud. It's ours.
Nothing on earth I'd trade it for.
Grateful.

Classic Thanksgiving poems (public domain)

These three were published before 1931, so they are in the public domain in the United States and free to print and read aloud. Each text was checked word for word against an early edition, with the old spellings kept. For more classics, see our famous poems.

Over the River and Through the Wood, by Lydia Maria Child

Lydia Maria Child first published this poem in 1844 as "The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day" in Flowers for Children, Volume 2. It follows a family's sleigh ride to Grandfather's house. The original has twelve stanzas; the song most people know uses only a few and often changes "grandfather's house" to "grandmother's house". Here is the full original. ("Pow" in stanza ten means head.)

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.

Over the river, and through the wood,
To grandfather's house away!
We would not stop
For doll or top,
For 't is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes,
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river, and through the wood,
With a clear blue winter sky,
The dogs do bark,
And children hark,
As we go jingling by.

Over the river, and through the wood,
To have a first-rate play—
Hear the bells ring
Ting a ling ding,
Hurra for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river, and through the wood—
No matter for winds that blow;
Or if we get
The sleigh upset,
Into a bank of snow.

Over the river, and through the wood,
To see little John and Ann;
We will kiss them all,
And play snow-ball,
And stay as long as we can.

Over the river, and through the wood,
Trot fast, my dapple grey!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound,
For 't is Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river, and through the wood,
And straight through the barn-yard gate;
We seem to go
Extremely slow,
It is so hard to wait.

Over the river, and through the wood—
Old Jowler hears our bells;
He shakes his pow,
With a loud bow wow,
And thus the news he tells.

Over the river, and through the wood—
When grandmother sees us come,
She will say, Oh dear,
The children are here,
Bring a pie for every one.

Over the river, and through the wood—
Now grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurra for the fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurra for the pumpkin pie!

Reading it with kids? Let them call out the first line of each stanza; it never changes. Text: Poets.org.

A Thanksgiving Poem, by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 to 1906) wrote this prayer of thanks for a safe harvest. It is collected in The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1913) and works as a traditional grace. For a shorter version, read the first two stanzas and the last.

The sun hath shed its kindly light,
Our harvesting is gladly o'er
Our fields have felt no killing blight,
Our bins are filled with goodly store.

From pestilence, fire, flood, and sword
We have been spared by thy decree,
And now with humble hearts, O Lord,
We come to pay our thanks to thee.

We feel that had our merits been
The measure of thy gifts to us,
We erring children, born of sin,
Might not now be rejoicing thus.

No deed of ours hath brought us grace;
When thou were nigh our sight was dull,
We hid in trembling from thy face,
But thou, O God, wert merciful.

Thy mighty hand o'er all the land
Hath still been open to bestow
Those blessings which our wants demand
From heaven, whence all blessings flow.

Thou hast, with ever watchful eye,
Looked down on us with holy care,
And from thy storehouse in the sky
Hast scattered plenty everywhere.

Then lift we up our songs of praise
To thee, O Father, good and kind;
To thee we consecrate our days;
Be thine the temple of each mind.

With incense sweet our thanks ascend;
Before thy works our powers pall;
Though we should strive years without end,
We could not thank thee for them all.

Text: Wikisource.

Thanksgiving, by Edgar A. Guest

Edgar A. Guest's "Thanksgiving", from his 1917 book Just Folks, pictures grown children coming home to their parents' table, in the folksy, dropped-g style he was known for. Here are the first and last of its four stanzas.

Gettin' together to smile an' rejoice,
An' eatin' an' laughin' with folks of your choice;
An' kissin' the girls an' declarin' that they
Are growin' more beautiful day after day;
Chattin' an' braggin' a bit with the men,
Buildin' the old family circle again;
Livin' the wholesome an' old-fashioned cheer,
Just for awhile at the end of the year.

Give me the end of the year an' its fun
When most of the plannin' an' toilin' is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin' with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An' I'll put soul in my Thanksgivin' prayers.

Read the full poem at Project Gutenberg.

How to share a Thanksgiving poem at the table

A poem at Thanksgiving should take less time than the gravy takes to cool. Pick one for the moment:

Moment	Try	Length
Before the meal	A grace or blessing (poems 7 to 11) or Dunbar's prayer	4 to 12 lines
Place cards	Place Card Verse (2) or A Wish for Your Thanksgiving (6)	2 lines
Thanking the cook	Card for the Host (5) or For Mom, Who Cooked All Day (12)	4 to 12 lines
After dinner, before pie	A funny poem (19 to 22)	Under a minute
A child's turn to speak	Gobble, Gobble (23) or Pumpkin Pie (25)	4 to 6 lines
Remembering someone	The Empty Chair (17)	12 lines

Tips for reading a poem aloud

• Wait for quiet. Tap a glass once and start when the last conversation stops.
• Go slower than feels natural. Pause at the end of each stanza and look up for the last line.
• Share it out. Give each person one stanza, or let the youngest guest read the final line.
• Add one real detail. Swap in a name or the dish your family always makes. One specific line makes any poem yours.

What to write in a Thanksgiving card

Start with a two-line verse, add one sentence that thanks them for something specific, and sign off. For example, to the host: "May plates be full and worries small, with pie enough to share with all. Thank you for opening your home to all of us again this year."

Name acrostic place cards: write each guest's name down the side of a folded card and give every letter a word or line of thanks.

Make a Thanksgiving acrostic, free

Once the leftovers are gone, our Christmas poems are ready for the next round of cards.

FAQs

What is the most famous Thanksgiving poem?

"Over the River and Through the Wood" by Lydia Maria Child, first published in 1844 as "The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day". Most people know it as a song, but the original has twelve stanzas, all printed above.

What is a good short Thanksgiving poem?

Two to four lines that rhyme and name something real, such as "We wrote your name and set it here: / The table's better when you're near." The short Thanksgiving poems at the top of this page all fit inside a card.

What poem can I read before Thanksgiving dinner?

A grace of four to eight lines, because the food is waiting. "Before We Eat" is a short Christian grace, "A Blessing for Any Table" suits mixed beliefs, and Dunbar's "A Thanksgiving Poem" is a traditional prayer.

How do you write a gratitude poem?

Start with one specific thing you are grateful for, say why it matters and name the person if there is one. Small, exact details (a chipped blue cup, a furnace clicking on) say more than big words like "blessed".

Can I use these poems in cards or at school?

Yes. The 29 original poems were written for this site, so you can copy them into cards, school projects and dinner toasts. The three classic poems are in the public domain in the United States.