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A Friend's Greeting
I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have
been to me;
I'd like to be the help that you've been always
glad to be;
I'd like to mean as much to you each minute
of the day
As you have meant, old friend of mine, to me
along the way.
I'd like to do the big things and the splendid
things for you,
To brush the gray from out your skies and
leave them only blue;
I'd like to say the kindly things that I so oft
have heard,
And feel that I could rouse your soul the way
that mine you've stirred.
.
I'd like to give you back the joy that you have
given me,
Yet that were wishing you a need I hope will
never be;
I'd like to make you feel as rich as I, who
travel on
Undaunted in the darkest hours with you to
lean upon.
I'm wishing at this Christmas time that I could
but repay
A portion of the gladness that you've strewn
along my way;
And could I have one wish this year, this only
would it be:
I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have
been to me.
| About Edgar Guest ( 1881 - 1959) |
|
Edgar Guest was born in Birmingham, England but became a naturalized US citizen when his family moved to Detroit in 1881. He started his career as a copy boy at a local newspaper company. From this humble position he worked his way up as reporter and later as editor and columnist. It was during this time that he began writing daily poetry for the newspaper. His poems were later syndicated to over 300 newspaper all over the nations. Guest was famous for writing poems on home and familiar things and transforming those so called mundane things into great beauty and appreciation. Considered one of the most influential people who manage to give hope during the Great Depression, Guest was affectionately given the title “the poet of the people” after his death. His best known poem is It Couldn't Be Done while his fourth volume of poetry, A Heap O' Living were sold for more than 1 million copies. During his lifetime Guest was believed to have written over 15000 poems. |