A Thanksgiving Without Pilgrims

One of my last Thanksgivings stateside

Stuffing myself til bleary-eyed

With family in Cal

And some guy named Al

It ended on the couch on my backside

Oh Thanksgiving, I didn’t realise what you represent

Or that you’d become my favourite event

Now living down under

Where no turkey they plunder

You bring home a cinnamon and nutmeggy scent

Without you, Christmas just suddenly appears

I didn’t figure out why the first couple of years

And pie, as in pumpkin

They thought me a bumpkin

Some things are still off in the Southern hemisphere

There’s no such thing as a stupid question

Let me change your mind about this suggestion

For Americans, when back home, did ask me

Albeit very politely

Some questions that left some indigestion

Don’t they celebrate in your outback frontier?

How long was the drive from Australia to here?

I had to chuckle

Thinking ‘what the fuckle’

While swallowing my cranberries and jeer

Now in November, when I’m not being wordy

We gather and eat lots of big birdie

Raising our pints and snouts

Someone invariably shouts

‘Put another turkey on the barbie!’