THE KNOCK ON THE DOOR


The turkey was done, the table set
With the best dishes that we had.
From pots and pans and bowls there came
Aromas to make us children glad.

My father was in the living room
With the usual newspaper in his hand.
The world is going to hell in a handbasket
Was his comment about the news of the land

Sister and brother, outside somewhere
Playing in the crisp November air.
And I?  Probably a book was reading
While sitting in an easy chair.

We had not yet sat down to eat
When at the kitchen door came a knock.
It was early afternoon I guess
Although I did not see the clock.

What my mother said was indistinct
Nor could we see who was there.
But my father had to know who had come
So, he shouted from his chair...

"Who's there?" were his words quite loud.
"A man who wants something to eat"
Was my mother's quick reply.
"I'll fix him a sandwich of turkey meat".

My father's next words were quite a shock
For he said "Like Hell you will!"
But the man was not turned away
For next came the words I remember still.

"God dammit, invite him in the house
And at the table set another place.
Give him a washcloth and towel
So he can wash his hands and face."

I no longer know who this stranger was
Who that day our table shared
Except that he was, like many, out of work
Tired, lonely and rather scared.

He missed his family, now miles away
Praying for him a job to find.
A dollar he would send from time to time
When he found labor of any kind

Wood he had cut, floors he had swept
For a nickel or a dime.
But one thing, he said, he would never do
And that was live a life of crime

Well, of the food there was little left
When at last the meal was done.
Then another cup of coffee, or maybe two
Before he said "I have to run.

Thank you for the meal and all the rest
You've certainly been very kind.
But now I must really go on my way
Perhaps tomorrow some work I'll find" .

Mother did the dishes; my book I read again.
My father sat and grumbled away.
But all of us knew that the knock on the door
Had caused a special Thanksgiving Day .

jhs