So We May Feast

Most offices are closed today
And so is every school.
Department stores are shuttered
And museums, as a rule.

You cannot buy a stamp because
The post office is shut.
Forget the beauty parlor
If your tresses need a cut.

Many restaurants decide
To give their chefs a break;
And hopefully, you didn’t wait
To buy that pie or cake.

Yet some employees still get stuck
And must report to work –
Nurses, cops and firemen
Have jobs they cannot shirk.

Gasoline attendants
And the workers at the zoo
Are expected to show up today
To do what they must do.

Pilots, cabbies, deli clerks,
Some pharmacists and doormen
All must do their duty,
Just like soldiers and Peace Corps men.

So those of us who have the day
To celebrate and feast
Should be grateful that from daily chores
We’ve somehow been released.

Yet we owe a debt of thanks to those
Whose jobs provide a living
That allow the rest of us to have
A labor-free Thanksgiving.