{"id":161527,"url":"https://www.kudos365.com/news/161527-a-patriotic-creed-by-edgar-guest","short_url":"https://www.kudos365.com/news/161527","headline":"\"A Patriotic Creed\" by Edgar Guest","content":"\u003cp\u003eTo serve my country day by day\u003cbr\u003eAt any humble post I may;\u003cbr\u003eTo honor and respect her Flag,\u003cbr\u003eTo live the traits of which I brag;\u003cbr\u003eTo be American in deed\u003cbr\u003eAs well as in my printed creed.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTo stand for truth and honest toil,\u003cbr\u003eTo till my little patch of soil\u003cbr\u003eAnd keep in mind the debt I owe\u003cbr\u003eTo them who died that I might know\u003cbr\u003eMy country, prosperous and free,\u003cbr\u003eAnd passed this heritage to me.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eI must always in trouble’s hour\u003cbr\u003eBe guided by the men in power;\u003cbr\u003eFor God and country I must live,\u003cbr\u003eMy best for God and country give;\u003cbr\u003eNo act of mine that men may scan\u003cbr\u003eMust shame the name American.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTo do my best and play my part,\u003cbr\u003eAmerican in mind and heart;\u003cbr\u003eTo serve the flag and bravely stand\u003cbr\u003eTo guard the glory of my land;\u003cbr\u003eTo be American in deed,\u003cbr\u003eGod grant me strength to keep this creed.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eEdgar Albert Guest\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e(1881 – 1959)\u003c/strong\u003e was a British-born American poet\u0026nbsp;who became known as the People's Poet. His family moved from England to Detroit, Michigan when he was ten years old and he lived there the rest of his life. He worked for the Detroit Free Press for 64 years. He published more than twenty volumes of poetry and was thought to have written over 12,000 poems. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. Of his poems he said, \"I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them. \"His popularity led NBC to produce a weekly 15-minute radio program, “Guest in Your Home,” which ran from 1931 to 1942.\u003cbr\u003eThe Globe editorialized his passing by quoting Philip Coldren, the late editorial page editor who wrote that the key to Guest’s greatness was “that among the thousands of Guest poems, ‘there has not been a single one that has promoted wickedness or meanness or anything else but kindness and gentleness and peace and hope\"\u0026nbsp;\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","content_plain":"To serve my country day by dayAt any humble post I may;To honor and respect her Flag,To live the traits of which I brag;To be American in deedAs well as in my printed creed. To stand for truth and honest toil,To till my little patch of soilAnd keep in mind the debt I oweTo them who died that I might knowMy country, prosperous and free,And passed this heritage to me. I must always in trouble’s hourBe guided by the men in power;For God and country I must live,My best for God and country give;No act of mine that men may scanMust shame the name American. To do my best and play my part,American in mind and heart;To serve the flag and bravely standTo guard the glory of my land;To be American in deed,God grant me strength to keep this creed.Edgar Albert Guest (1881 – 1959) was a British-born American poet who became known as the People's Poet. His family moved from England to Detroit, Michigan when he was ten years old and he lived there the rest of his life. He worked for the Detroit Free Press for 64 years. He published more than twenty volumes of poetry and was thought to have written over 12,000 poems. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. Of his poems he said, \"I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them. \"His popularity led NBC to produce a weekly 15-minute radio program, “Guest in Your Home,” which ran from 1931 to 1942.The Globe editorialized his passing by quoting Philip Coldren, the late editorial page editor who wrote that the key to Guest’s greatness was “that among the thousands of Guest poems, ‘there has not been a single one that has promoted wickedness or meanness or anything else but kindness and gentleness and peace and hope\" ","published_at":"2026-07-03T23:59:00-07:00","updated_at":"2025-11-14T18:20:16-08:00","author":{"type":"Person","name":"Kudos Community ","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/profiles/100025-kudos-community"},"description":"Stay up-to-date with Kudos Community on Kudos 365. View their photo published Jul/04/2026 on Poetry. Browse your favorite topics and share your expertise, too.","type":"photo","image":"https://k365fs.imgix.net/media/j18rAlaSmuEsSxy0Ynjw_flag-5056620_1920.jpg?auto=compress,format\u0026fit=max\u0026w=1200\u0026h=1200\u0026q=48","likes_count":11,"comments_count":1,"categories":[{"name":"Poetry","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/categories/942-poetry"},{"name":"Public Interest","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/categories/1070-public-interest"}],"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CreativeWork","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/news/161527-a-patriotic-creed-by-edgar-guest","headline":"\"A Patriotic Creed\" by Edgar Guest","image":"https://k365fs.imgix.net/media/j18rAlaSmuEsSxy0Ynjw_flag-5056620_1920.jpg?auto=compress,format\u0026fit=max\u0026w=1200\u0026h=1200\u0026q=48","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Kudos Community ","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/profiles/100025-kudos-community"},"datePublished":"2026-07-03T23:59:00-07:00","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/LikeAction","userInteractionCount":11}],"subjectOf":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Poetry","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/categories/942-poetry"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Public Interest","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/categories/1070-public-interest"}]}}