Edgar Albert Guest Poems

I might have been rich if I'd wanted the gold instead of the friendships
I've made.
I might have had fame if I'd sought for renown in the hours when I
purposely played.
...

Only a dad, with a tired face,
Coming home from the daily race,
Bringing little of gold or fame,
...

IT was thick with Prussian troopers, it was foul with German guns;
Every tree that cast a shadow was a sheltering place for Huns.
Death was guarding every roadway, death was watching every field,
...

When you get to know a fellow, know his joys and know his cares,
When you've come to understand him and the burdens that he bears,
When you've learned the fight he's making and the troubles in his way,
...

Nine passed him by with a hasty look,
Each bent on his eager way;
One glance at him was the most they took,
...

When sorrow comes, as come it must,
In God a man must place his trust.
There is no power in mortal speech
The anguish of his soul to reach,
...

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You've all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes,
And a brain to use if you would be wise.
...

He couldn't use his driver any better on the tee
Than the chap that he was licking, who just happened to be me;
I could hit them with a brassie just as straight and just as far,
But I piled up several sevens while he made a few in par;
And he trimmed me to a finish, and I know the reason why:
He could keep his temper better when he dubbed a shot than I.
...

This is the sort of a man was he:
True when it hurt him a lot to be;
Tight in a corner an' knowin' a lie
...

His eye was wild and his face was taut with anger and hate and rage,
And the things he muttered were much too strong for the ink of the printed page. I found him there when the dusk came down, in his golf clothes still was he,
...