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Edgar Albert Guest

Edgar Albert Guest

His Santa Claus

He will not come to him this year with all his old-time joy,
An imitation Santa Claus must serve his little boy;
Last year he heard the reindeers paw the roof above his head,
And as he dreamed the kindly saint tip-toed about his bed,
But Christmas Eve he will not come by any happy chance;
This year his kindly Santa Claus must guard a trench in France.
 
His mother bravely tries to smile; last Christmas Eve was gay;
Last Christmas morn his daddy rose at dawn with him to play;
This year he’ll hang his stocking by the chimney, but the hands
That filled it with the joys he craved now serve in foreign lands.
He is too young to understand his mother’s troubled glance,
But he that was his Santa Claus is in a trench in France.
 
Somewhere in France this Christmas Eve a soldier brave will be,
And all that night in fancy he will trim a Christmas tree;
And all that night he’ll live again the joys that once he had
When he was good St. Nicholas unto a certain lad.
And he will wonder if his boy, by any sad mischance,
Will find his stocking empty just because he serves in France.

#1918 #EnglishWriters #OverHere

Other works by Edgar Albert Guest...
Joys Within Reach

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Getting Her a Valentine

“GIVE me the prettiest valentine You’ve got in the shop,' said he, ‘One with the tenderest sort o’ li… In type that her eyes can see. One that she won’t need her specs…
If This Were All

If this were all of life we’ll kno… If this brief space of breath Were all there is to human toil, If death were really death, And never should the soul arise
Raisin Pie

There’s a heap of pent-up goodness in the yellow bantam corn, And I sort o’ like to linger round a berry patch at morn; Oh, the Lord has set our table
 1
The Things You Can’T Forget

They ain’t much, seen from day to… The big elm tree across the way, The church spire, an’ the meetin’… Lit up by many a friendly face. You pass 'em by a dozen times
Baby’s Got a Tooth

The telephone rang in my office to… as it often has tinkled before. I turned in my chair in a half-gro… for a telephone call is a bore; And I thought, ‘It is somebody wa…
Rebellion

‘My Crown Prince was fine and fai… father said, ‘But he marched away with his regi… they tell me that he’s dead! ‘We all must go,’ he whispered low…
A Good Name

Men talk too much of gold and fame… And not enough about a name; And yet a good name’s better far Than all earth’s glistening jewels… Who holds his name above all price
The Joys of Home

Curling smoke from a chimney low, And only a few more steps to go, Faces pressed at a window pane Watching for someone to come again… And I am the someone they wait to…
All for the Best

Things mostly happen for the best. However hard it seems to-day, When some fond plan has gone astra… Or what you’ve wished for most is… An’ you sit countin’ up the cost
October

Days are gettin’ shorter an’ the a… Apples now are droppin’ into Moth… The mist at dusk is risin’ over va… An’ it’s just as plain as sunshine… The turkeys now are struttin’ roun…
A New Year’s Song

Love and laughter lead you Down the pathways of the year, And may each morning feed you From the golden spoon of cheer; May every eye be shining,
A Bear Story

There was a bear—his name was Jim… An’ children weren’t askeered of h… An’ he lived in a cave, where he Was confortubbul as could be, An’ in that cave, so my Pa said,
With Dog and Gun

Out in the woods with a dog an’ gu… Is my idea of a real day’s fun. ‘Tain’t the birds that I’m out to… That furnish me with the finest th… ‘Cause I never worry or fret a lo…
Here We Are!

Here we are, Britain! the finest… Taking our coats off and rolling o… Answering the thoughtless that onc… Each man a soldier for what he bel… Here we are, tight little island,…



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