Bij Vaderdag

 

 

Zelfportret met mijn zoon door Otto Dix, 1930

 

 

 

Father

 

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.

 

 

 

Edgar Guest (20 augustus 1881 – 5 augustus 1959)

 

 

Zie voor de schrijvers van de 16e juni ook mijn drie vorige blogs van vandaag.