I read a poem by Edgar Guest in Hope’s blog (Second Time Around) today and it reminded me of the first time I commented on Kim’s blog (Dear Daisy Cottage). She had written a post about Edgar Guest and how much she loved his poetry. There was a picture of a book of his poetry and it brought back such memories. You see, Edgar Guest was my Dad’s godfather. My Dad always quoted the poem It Couldn’t Be Done to me when I complained that I would never be able to do something or other. He paraphrased the poem so that it read “Somebody said it couldn’t be done, but I with a chuckle replied, I wouldn’t say so until I tried.” I still quote that Dad-version of the line myself. If you read the poem you’ll find that the actual line is longer and slightly different.

I grew up hearing about what a lovely man Edgar Guest was. I never got to meet him, but my Dad is proud that he was his godfather. We lived in the Detroit area and Guest’s son, Bud, was a radio personality on one of Detroit’s major radio stations. He had a wonderful voice and his show was very warm and folksy. He often read his father’s poetry on the air.

After talking to Kim, I decided to collect some copies of Edgar Guest’s books. This photo is of two of them arranged on my piano, along with a book that was my grandmother’s. The Model T was my Dad’s toy when he was a little boy. He is now 84!