A Golfer’s Wish – Golf Poetry

I have no wish to dress in silk
I do not care to wear a crown, 
I do not yearn to bathe in milk, 
Or champagne wash my dinner down. 

I have no great desire to be 
A man of much importance here, 
And have the public welcome me 
With bands of brass when I appear.
 
And should a fairy, kind and good. 
Grant me one favor, without price, 
I'd make this golfer's prayer, I would: 
"Oh, kindly rid me of my slice !" 

I am not one intent on fame; 
I do not care to lead the throng; 
Though strangers never hear my name, 
Contentedly I'll plod along. 

Enough to eat, enough to wear. 
And strength to do my daily task. 
With now and then a chance to fare 
On pleasure's ways, is all I ask. 

But should a fairy come to me 
And say: "What joy will you suffice? 
I'll grant one wish. What shall it be?" 
I'd answer: "Rid me of my slice!" 

You that have never swung a club 
And drawn its face across the ball, 
And muttered to yourself, "You dub!" 
As in a curve you watched it fall, 

May never guess the rage that lies 
Within that shortened arc of flight. 
Nor how men curse the fall that flies 
With loss of distance, to the right. 

But every golfing fiend will know 
Why gold and fame I'd sacrifice. 
If but some fairy, good, would show 
Me how to drive without a slice. 

Edgar A. Guest
from Lyrics of the Links, 1921

Edgar Guest (1881 -1959) was a popular poet who was known as “The People’s Poet.”

Guest was born in England, but lived in Detroit from 1891 until his death. He first began working at the Detroit Free Press as a teen. Eventually his work was syndicated in 300 newspapers across the country; his poetry was collected in twenty books.

In all, Guest published more than 11,000 poems! He published a new poem every day for thirty years in the Detroit Free Press.

Guest also hosted a radio program and a NBC television series called “A Guest In Your House.”

In 1952, Guest was named Poet Laureate of Michigan, a position he held until his death in 1959. He remains Michigan’s only Poet Laureate.