I've always been drawn to poetry and quotes. In junior highschool I remember typing on my Dad's funky typewriter, copies of poems or quotes which captured my imagination.  They were treasures.  

        Now with the internet, I can find almost any old poem or quote, instantly.  Including a very long and funny Thanksgiving poem my Dad had memorized as a child and often recited from memory,  "When Father Carved the Turk."  I love the worldwide web and the new  technology! 

        Today I received an email from a local friend, in response to my earlier blog, "Ten Angels Swearing." She had recently and suddenly lost her husband to a heart attack. Unfortunately, I never met him.  My friend included a poem in her message and said that her husband had loved quotes.  He kept this special one by him in 3 different places, by his bed, in his dresser drawer and under the visor of his car.  It was a quote he lived by.  And they never knew the author. 

With a few clicks of my nimble fingers, I was able to find the fascinating history of the original poem and of the author. The quote revealed something fundamental about the character of my friend's husband.  I also discovered that the author, Dale Wimbrow, was himself a spiritual, "down-home", and much-loved husband, father, soldier, newspaper publisher, artist and musician. 

What follows is the original version of that treasured poem.  The word "pelf" is an old English word meaning "wealth or riches, especially when dishonestly acquired."

The Guy in the Glass  

by Dale Wimbrow,  1934

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,

And the world makes you King for a day,

Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,

And see what that guy has to say.

 

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

Who judgement upon you must pass.

The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.

 

He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.

 

You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,

And think you're a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye.

 

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

 

P.S.  My Dad would have loved this poem.  The stone in the photo contains these words:  "Though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener."