Father

Father

by Edgar A. Guest

My father knows the proper way

  The nation should be run;

He tells us children every day

  Just what should now be done.

He knows the way to fix the trusts,

  He has a simple plan;

But if the furnace needs repairs,

  We have to hire a man.

My father, in a day or two

  Could land big thieves in jail;

There’s nothing that he cannot do,

  He knows no word like “fail.”

“Our confidence” he would restore,

  Of that there is no doubt;

But if there is a chair to mend,

  We have to send it out.

All public questions that arise,

  He settles on the spot;

He waits not till the tumult dies,

  But grabs it while it’s hot.

In matters of finance he can

  Tell Congress what to do;

But, O, he finds it hard to meet

  His bills as they fall due.

It almost makes him sick to read

  The things law-makers say;

Why, father’s just the man they need,

  He never goes astray.

All wars he’d very quickly end,

  As fast as I can write it;

But when a neighbor starts a fuss,

  ’Tis mother has to fight it.

In conversation father can

  Do many wondrous things;

He’s built upon a wiser plan

  Than presidents or kings.

He knows the ins and outs of each

  And every deep transaction;

We look to him for theories,

  But look to ma for action.