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"Gathering Leaves" by Robert Frost
Vermont's Poet Laureate, Robert Frost, was arguably America's best-known poet of the 20th century. Frost's legacy includes the formation of Marlboro College, that eventually led to the formation of the world-famous Marlboro Music Festival, heard on the Thanksgiving 2002 edition of Performance Today.
Below is a Thanksgiving-time poem from the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

"Gathering Leaves"

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

Copyright 2004 NPR