Edgar Albert Guest (August 20, 1881, Birmingham, England – August 5, 1959, Detroit, Michigan) (aka Eddie Guest) was a prolific English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People’s Poet.

In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England. After he began at the Detroit Free Press as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared December 11, 1898. He became a naturalized citizen in 1902. For 40 years, Guest was widely read throughout North America, and his sentimental, optimistic poems were in the same vein as the light verse of Nick Kenny, who wrote syndicated columns during the same decades.

From his first published work in the Detroit Free Press until his death in 1959, Guest penned some 11,000 poems which were syndicated in some 300 newspapers and collected in more than 20 books, including A Heap o’ Livin’ (1916) and Just Folks (1917). Guest was made Poet Laureate of Michigan, the only poet to have been awarded the title.

Results and Roses

Edgar Albert Guest

The man who wants a garden fair,

Or small or very big,

With flowers growing here and there,

Must bend his back and dig.

The things are mighty few on earth,

That wishes can attain,

Whatever we want of any worth,

We’ve got to work to gain.

It matters not what goal you seek,

Its secret here reposes:

You’ve got to dig from week to week,

To get results or roses.

硕果和玫瑰

埃德加·阿尔贝特·格斯特

要想有个美丽花园，

面积大小姑且不管，

只要园中长满鲜花，

就必须把汗水挥洒。

有愿望就能实现，

这样的事还真是少见，只要想要的东西有价值，

就得靠努力去创造。

目标是什么并不重要，

秘诀终归只有一条：

周复一周不怕劳累，

才能收获硕果或者玫瑰。