Edgar Albert Guest: The People’s Poet and Garden Dreamer

September 20, 1881

Dearest readers,

On this day, we gather to honor the birth of Edgar Albert Guest, a British-born American poet whose verses became a heartfelt hymn to everyday joys, sorrows, and the simple beauty of life.

Known affectionately as the “People’s Poet,” Guest’s smiling optimism and accessible style resonated with millions, who found in his words a gentle companion on rough roads and quiet evenings alike.

Born in Birmingham, England, in 1881, Guest’s family journeyed across the Atlantic to Detroit, Michigan, when he was ten years old—a move that would profoundly shape his poetic spirit.

Starting his career humbly as a copyboy at the Detroit Free Press, he rose over decades to pen thousands of poems (some 11,000 in fact!) published in more than 300 newspapers, cementing his role as a daily voice of comfort and cheer.

One of the treasures of Guest’s legacy is his poem To Plant a Garden, a joyous exhortation to embrace life and hope through the nurturing act of gardening.

With his warm cadence, he invites us to discover the drama, delight, friendship, and rejuvenation that a garden holds:

“If your purse no longer bulges
and you’ve lost your golden treasure,
If at times you think you’re lonely
and have hungry grown for pleasure,
Don’t sit by your hearth and grumble,
don’t let mind and spirit harden.
If it’s thrills of joy you wish for
get to work and plant a garden!”

Guest’s garden is not just earth and plants, but a theater of life’s grander themes—battle and triumph, sorrow and joy, boredom turned to wonder.

He assures us that even the humblest volunteer tomato, “Ping-pong Tomato,” or the fellowship of daisies can become our comradeship and our escape.

Even facing the ultimate uncertainty of mortality, Guest’s poem offers a balm of hope:

“If you ever think of dying
and you fear to wake tomorrow
Plant a garden! It will cure you
of your melancholy sorrow.”

Edgar Guest’s verses remain an enduring invitation to plant not only gardens, but seeds of optimism, kindness, and daily gratitude—a true poet of the people, whose gentle words continue to bloom in hearts old and new.

Here's Guest's poem, To Plant a Garden, in full:

If your purse no longer bulges
and you’ve lost your golden treasure,
If at times you think you’re lonely
and have hungry grown for pleasure,
Don’t sit by your hearth and grumble,
don’t let mind and spirit harden.
If it’s thrills of joy you wish for
get to work and plant a garden!
If it’s drama that you sigh for,
plant a garden and you’ll get it
You will know the thrill of battle
fighting foes that will beset it
If you long for entertainment and
for pageantry most glowing,
Plant a garden and this summer spend
your time with green things growing.
If it’s comradeship you sight for,
learn the fellowship of daisies.
You will come to know your neighbor
by the blossoms that he raises;
If you’d get away from boredom
and find new delights to look for,
Learn the joy of budding pansies
which you’ve kept a special nook for.
If you ever think of dying
and you fear to wake tomorrow
Plant a garden! It will cure you
of your melancholy sorrow
Once you’ve learned to know peonies,
petunias, and roses,
You will find every morning
some new happiness discloses.