A BEST LOVED POEM

 

A BEST LOVED POEM   

            A best loved poem is one which expresses noblest thoughts and also binds you with God Almighty. The title of the poem which inspired me today is titled : Lord, Make A Regular Man Out Of Me. This is about the  new year’s wishes of a poet known as Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959) . He was a British-born  U.S. writer who became popular due to his poems like The Bacholor’s Soliloquy, Father, Hard Luck, and Don’t Quit.

            The poem given below is about his New Year’s wishes. He wants to  become  an occasional but a regular man with improved qualities ----as braver and bolder, a bit finer but less whiner, a bit fairer and squarer in the time to come, and lastly a bit truer, less of the wisher and more of the doer.

            Here is the full poem:

This I would like to be –braver and bolder,

Just a bit wiser because I am older,

Just a bit kinder to those I may meet,

Just a bit manlier taking defeat;

This for the New Year my wish and my plea---

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

                           

This I would like to be ----just a bit finer

More of a smiler and less of a whiner,

Just a bit quicker to stretch to stretch out my hand

Helping another who struggling to stand

This is my prayer for the New Year to be,

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

 

This I would like to be ----just a bit fairer,

Just a bit better, and just a bit squarer

Not quite so ready to censure and and blame,

Quicker to help every man in the game,

Not quite so eager men’s failings to see,

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

This I would like to be ---just a bit truer,

Less of the wisher and more of the doer,

Broader and bigger, more willing to give,

Living and helping my neighbor to live!

This for the New Year my prayer and my plea ---

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

21 December 2025