Edgar Guest's poems

[Geoff-Allen]

I found this poet the other day - over 11,000 poems according to one biography I read!

I might wish the world were better,
I might sit around and sigh
For a water that is wetter
And a bluer sort of sky.

There are times I think the weather
Could be much improved upon,
But when taken altogether
It's a good old world we're on.

I might tell how I would make it,
But when I have had my say
It is still my job to take It
As it is, from day to day.

I might wish that men were kinder,
And less eager after gold;
I might wish that they were blinder
To the faults they now behold.

And I'd try to make them gentle,
And more tolerant in strife
And a bit more sentimental
O'er the finer things of life.

But I am not here to make them,
Or to work in human clay;
It is just my work to take them
As they are from day to day.

Here's a world that suffers sorrow,
Here are bitterness and pain,
And the joy we plan to-morrow
May be ruined by the rain.

Here are hate and greed and badness,
Here are love and friendship, too,
But the most of it is gladness
When at last we've run it through.

Could we only understand it
As we shall some distant day
We should see that He who planned it
Knew our needs along the way.

Edgar Guest

Try a search for Edgar Guest poems and see what turns up ...

Here's one excellent site -

Edgar Albert Guest Poems > My poetic side

Enjoy!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

To the humble

If all the flowers were roses,
If never daisies grew,
If no old-fashioned posies
Drank in the morning dew,
Then man might have some reason
To whimper and complain,
And speak these words of treason,
That all our toil is vain.

If all the stars were Saturns
That twinkle in the night,
Of equal size and patterns,
And equally as bright,
Then men in humble places,
With humble work to do,
With frowns upon their faces
Might trudge their journey through.

But humble stars and posies
Still do their best, although
They're planets not, nor roses,
To cheer the world below.
And those old-fashioned daisies
Delight the soul of man;
They're here, and this their praise is:
They work the Master's plan.

Though humble be your labor,
And modest be your sphere,
Come, envy not your neighbor
Whose light shines brighter here.
Does God forget the daisies
Because the roses bloom?
Shall you not win His praises
By toiling at your loom?

Have you, the toiler humble,
Just reason to complain,
To shirk your task and grumble
And think that it is vain
Because you see a brother
With greater work to do?
No fame of his can smother
The merit that's in you.

Edgar Guest

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I found this poet the other day - over 11,000 poems according to one biography I read!

I might wish the world were better,
I might sit around and sigh
For a water that is wetter
And a bluer sort of sky.

There are times I think the weather
Could be much improved upon,
But when taken altogether
It's a good old world we're on.

I might tell how I would make it,
But when I have had my say
It is still my job to take It
As it is, from day to day.

I might wish that men were kinder,
And less eager after gold;
I might wish that they were blinder
To the faults they now behold.

And I'd try to make them gentle,
And more tolerant in strife
And a bit more sentimental
O'er the finer things of life.

But I am not here to make them,
Or to work in human clay;
It is just my work to take them
As they are from day to day.

Here's a world that suffers sorrow,
Here are bitterness and pain,
And the joy we plan to-morrow
May be ruined by the rain.

Here are hate and greed and badness,
Here are love and friendship, too,
But the most of it is gladness
When at last we've run it through.

Could we only understand it
As we shall some distant day
We should see that He who planned it
Knew our needs along the way.

Edgar Guest

Try a search for Edgar Guest poems and see what turns up ...

Here's one excellent site -

Edgar Albert Guest Poems > My poetic side

Enjoy!

A fellow businessman and friend of my grandfather's had a number of Guest's poems (and a scant few by other authors) typed up in a special binder for my grandfather, sometime before his death in 1954...and I would guess sometime in the 1940s. I discovered this book while doing family history work on boxes of papers that my grandmother had saved.

Also in one box was the small sheet of paper, folded twice, that was his very brief suicide note. Reading the poems, and knowing the contents of the note, I believe I have a bit of insight into the grandfather I never knew.

 

[Revoltingest]

Sensing a theme in the OP......

I'd like it if the sky were green
and lilac scent graced my latrine.
But don't dispair
cuz life ain't fair.
At least we've pork in our cuisine!

 

[osgart]

god bless pork!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

You can also find his poems here - along with many other poets ...

Your Daily Poem - Home

Enjoy!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Eternal Friendship

Who once has had a friend has found
The link 'twixt mortal and divine;
Though now he sleeps in hallowed ground,
He lives in memory's sacred shrine;
And there he freely moves about,
A spirit that has quit the clay,
And in the times of stress and doubt
Sustains his friend throughout the day.

No friend we love can ever die;
The outward form but disappears;
I know that all my friends are nigh
Whenever I am moved to tears.
And when my strength and hope are gone,
The friends, no more, that once I knew,
Return to cheer and urge me on
Just as they always used to do.

They whisper to me in the dark
Kind words of counsel and of cheer;
When hope has flickered to a spark
I feel their gentle spirits near.
And Oh! because of them I strive
With all the strength that I can call
To keep their friendship still alive
And to be worthy of them all.

Death does not end our friendships true;
We all are debtors to the dead;
There, wait on everything we do
The splendid souls who've gone ahead.
To them I hold that we are bound
By double pledges to be fine.
Who once has had a friend has found
The link 'twixt mortal and divine.