Edgar Albert Guest Poems

She said she was sorry the weather was bad
The night that she asked us to dine;
And she really appeared inexpressibly sad
...

We need a few more optimists,
The kind that double up their fists
And set their jaws, determined-like,
...

Jim's made good in the world out there, an' Kate has a man that's true,
No better, of course, than she deserves; she's rich, but she's happy, too;
Fred is manager, full-fledged now—he's boss of a big concern
An' I lose my breath when I think sometimes of the money that he can earn;
Clever—the word don't mean enough to tell what they really are,
...

I freely confess there are good friends of mine,
With whom we are often invited to dine,
Who get on my nerves so that I cannot eat
Or stay with my usual ease in my seat;
...

He was just a small church parson when the war broke out, and he
Looked and dressed and acted like all parsons that we see.
He wore the cleric's broadcloth and he hooked his vest behind,
...

My father often used to say:
'My boy don't throw a thing away:
You'll find a use for it some day.'
...

Because I am his father, they
Expect me to put grief away;
Because I am a man, and rough
And sometimes short of speech and gruff,
...

You can boast your round of pleasures, praise the sound of popping corks,
Where the orchestra is playing to the rattle of the forks;
And your after-opera dinner you may think superbly fine,
...

The roads of happiness are not
The selfish roads of pleasure seeking,
Where cheeks are flushed with haste and hot
...

There are no gods that bring to youth
The rich rewards that stalwarts claim;
The god of fortune is in truth
A vision and an empty name.
...