When he was 16 years old he went to work for the Detroit Free press.  His first book of poetry was published when he was 17 and there were twenty books of poetry before he was done.  He became know as “The People’s Poet” and wrote over 11,000 poems.  He had a radio talk show for eleven years and a network TV show for a season.  With all that notoriety you’d think his name would be one most people know today.  Sadly his is now largely forgotten, so please allow me to introduce you to Edgar A. Guest (1881 – 1959). 

For 40 years, Edgar Guest was widely read throughout North America, and his sentimental and optimistic poems were widely loved. I discovered Mr. Guest’s work about two years ago.  The more of his poetry I have read, the more my admiration has grown for the simplicity of his work that expresses deep meaning in a way that just about anyone can understand. 

 “See It Through”
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!

Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!

Even hope may seem but futile,
When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
See it through!

“Life”
Life is a gift to be used every day,
Not to be smothered and hidden away;
It isn’t a thing to be stored in the chest
Where you gather your keepsakes
And treasure your best;
It isn’t a joy to be sipped now and then
And promptly put back in a dark place again.

Life is a gift that the humblest may boast of
And one that the humblest may well make the most of.
Get out and live it each hour of the day,
Wear it and use it as much as you may;
Don’t keep it in niches and corners and grooves,
You’ll find that in service its beauty improves.

Shunned by what Mr. Guest called highbrow, longhair intellectual critics and writers, he followed a clear and straightforward formula in his writing: I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them.  I am grateful for the pleasure and comfort I get from reading the work of Edgar Guest and thank him for the legacy for living he left behind. 

Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow