Poetry Sunday: Father

I believe that poet Edgar Guest must have had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek when he wrote these lines!

Father

by  Edgar Guest

My father knows the proper way 

The nation should be run; 

He tells us children every day 

Just what should now be done. 

He knows the way to fix the trusts, 

He has a simple plan; 

But if the furnace needs repairs, 

We have to hire a man. 

My father, in a day or two 

Could land big thieves in jail; 

There’s nothing that he cannot do, 

He knows no word like “fail.” 

“Our confidence” he would restore, 

Of that there is no doubt; 

But if there is a chair to mend, 

We have to send it out. 

All public questions that arise, 

He settles on the spot; 

He waits not till the tumult dies, 

But grabs it while it’s hot. 

In matters of finance he can 

Tell Congress what to do; 

But, O, he finds it hard to meet 

His bills as they fall due. 

It almost makes him sick to read 

The things law-makers say; 

Why, father’s just the man they need, 

He never goes astray. 

All wars he’d very quickly end, 

As fast as I can write it; 

But when a neighbor starts a fuss, 

’Tis mother has to fight it. 

In conversation father can 

Do many wondrous things; 

He’s built upon a wiser plan 

Than presidents or kings. 

He knows the ins and outs of each 

And every deep transaction; 

We look to him for theories, 

But look to ma for action.

~~~

And to all my readers who are fathers, especially my number one reader, Bob ...