When Day is Done

For decades, Americans turned to Edgar A. Guest for verse that felt like a conversation with a wise, kind friend. These poems, written in plain language about plain folks, capture the dignity of labor, the warmth of family, and the quiet faith that held ordinary lives together. Guest wrote about what he knew: the exhaustion of a workday, the pride in a well-kept home, the way children make a house feel alive. His lines were meant to be read aloud at the kitchen table or in a newspaper on a morning commute, and they carry that quality of spoken warmth, unpretentious, honest, deeply human. This collection gathers poems that celebrate the stuff of daily existence: the neighbor who shows up when help is needed, the simple grace of a home-cooked meal, the courage it takes to keep going when the world feels heavy. Guest called himself 'the people's poet,' and the name fits. These are poems for anyone who has ever found meaning in work, comfort in home, or hope in another day.