Edgar Albert Guest Poems

Love
Truth went forth on a search one day
I For the source of love that he might say
He had found its depth and its breadth for aye.
...

I do not ask a store of wealth,
Nor special gift of power;
I hope always for strength and health
To brave each troubled hour.
...

You can learn a lot from boys
By the way they use their toys;
Some are selfish in their care,
Never very glad to share
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There will always be something to do, my boy;
There will always be wrongs to right;
There will always be need for a manly breed
And men unafraid to fight.
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Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You're all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes,
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Troubles? Sure I've lots of them,
Got 'em heaped up by the score,
Got 'em baled and bundled up,
Got 'em hid behind the door.
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She mothered five!
Night after night she watched a little bed,
Night after night she cooled a fevered head,
Day after day she guarded little feet,
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When I was but a little lad of six and seven and eight,
One joy I knew that has been lost in customs up-to-date,
Then Saturday was baking day and Mother used to make,
The while I stood about and watched, the Sunday pies and cake;
And I was there to have fulfilled a small boy's fondest wish,
The glorious privilege of youth- to scrape the frosting dish!
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I notice when the news comes in
Of one who's claimed eternal glory,
This simple phrase, 'the next of kin,'
Concludes the soldier's final story.
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Oh, we have shipped his Christmas box with ribbons red 'tis tied,
And he shall find the things he likes from them he loves inside,
But he must miss the kisses true and all the laughter gay
And he must miss the smiles of home upon his Christmas Day.
...