Peaceful and content...

[primsong]

A little more of Edgar Guest for this Thursday, and truly, if this could be my lot, I would be very, very content - except maybe change the dog to a cat...


Life's Needs

Oh, let me have my work to do,
A book to read for an hour or two;
A garden, for an outside room,
Where little things I've planted bloom;
A dog to follow at my heels,
My children's laughter at my meals,
And love to greet me at the door,
And I'll not ask this world for more.

Just grant me strength to face the day;
The wit a grown man's part to play;
A few good friends my lot to share;
A suit of clothes that's fit to wear;
A good night's rest when day is done;
The zest for sport, the taste for fun;
An eye for all that's fair to see,
And full contented I shall be.

No climber I, who would ascend
Beyond the reach of last year's friends.
Give me a few things such as these;
Companionship with flowers and trees,
And summer's birds; the faith to bear
Whate'er of sorrow is my share;
And love to last till life is o'er,
And I'll not ask the world for more.

Comments

[estellye.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent! *Copy/Pastes to Favorite Poems file* Maybe I need to get Guest collection for my library.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

I'm really enjoying him - very non-angsty, thoughtful work set with simple forms that always give you a little something to think about or nod your head in agreement with. What's really strange to me is that he was immensely popular in the 1910-1920s and was a poet laureate for Michigan in that time, with mulitple volumes of collected poetry published - yet I had never heard of him!

I am very glad to add him to my (rather full) poetry shelf.

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Thank you for bringing this out!

[curuchamion.livejournal.com]

'yet I had never heard of him!'

*boggles*

My mom has his Complete Poems or some such... I haven't read it in a while, but I remember there were some darn good poems in there, both funny and moving.

Maybe I'll make Verse Thursday a regular thing on my own journal. Goodness knows I have oodles of poems just memorized, let alone all the ones I want to learn! :-)

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Thanks for bringing this old post back to my attention - Every now and then another wonderful thing bobs to the surface and makes me wonder how I could have missed it all this time. I've ferreted out an additional volume of his in the meantime because I enjoyed them so much.

:-)