Poem: “A Real Man” by Edgar A. Guest

A Heap o’ Livin’

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American Literature – American Poetry – Edgar A. Guest – Poems by Edgar A. Guest – A Heap o’ Livin’
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A Real Man

  Men are of two kinds, and he
  Was of the kind I’d like to be.
  Some preach their virtues, and a few
  Express their lives by what they do.
  That sort was he. No flowery phrase
  Or glibly spoken words of praise
  Won friends for him. He wasn’t cheap
  Or shallow, but his course ran deep,
  And it was pure. You know the kind.
  Not many in a life you find
  Whose deeds outrun their words so far
  That more than what they seem they are.

  There are two kinds of lies as well:
  The kind you live, the ones you tell.
  Back through his years from age to youth
  He never acted one untruth.
  Out in the open light he fought
  And didn’t care what others thought
  Nor what they said about his fight
  If he believed that he was right.
  The only deeds he ever hid
  Were acts of kindness that he did.

  What speech he had was plain and blunt.
  His was an unattractive front.
  Yet children loved him; babe and boy
  Played with the strength he could employ,
  Without one fear, and they are fleet
  To sense injustice and deceit.
  No back door gossip linked his name
  With any shady tale of shame.
  He did not have to compromise
  With evil-doers, shrewd and wise,
  And let them ply their vicious trade
  Because of some past escapade.

  Men are of two kinds, and he
  Was of the kind I’d like to be.
  No door at which he ever knocked
  Against his manly form was locked.
  If ever man on earth was free
  And independent, it was he.
  No broken pledge lost him respect,
  He met all men with head erect,
  And when he passed I think there went
  A soul to yonder firmament
  So white, so splendid and so fine
  It came almost to God’s design.

< < < Gratitude
The Neighborly Man > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Edgar A. Guest – Poems by Edgar A. Guest – A Heap o’ Livin’

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