Life’s No Dress Rehearsal—So Belt Out the Ballad, Dance Through the Drama, and Frost Your Cake With Joy. Dive into Edgar Albert Guest’s stirring poem Life, a timeless reminder that while grief may knock, joy still sings. This post explores how laughter, perseverance, and soulful choices shape the lives we live.
Life
Edgar Albert Guest
Life is a jest;
Take the delight of it.
Laughter is best;
Sing through the night of it.
Swiftly the tear
And the hurt and the ache of it
Find us down here;
Life must be what we make of it.
Life is a song;
Let us dance to the thrill of it.
Grief’s hours are long,
And cold is the chill of it.
Joy is man’s need;
Let us smile for the sake of it.
This be our creed:
Life must be what we make of it.
Life is a soul;
The virtue and vice of it.
Strife for a goal,
And man’s strength is the price of it.
Your life and mine,
The bare bread and the cake of it,
End in this line:
Life must be what we make of it.
Reflection:
Edgar Guest invites us into life’s full theater—where comedy, tragedy, and soulful striving share the same stage. In just three stanzas, he reminds us that tears are real, but so is laughter, and while pain can linger, joy is essential. His refrain, “Life must be what we make of it,” isn’t just advice—it’s a challenge to create meaning, to choose beauty, and to craft a life that sings even in minor chords.
🧐 Three Questions to Deepen the Reader’s Experience:
- Which line from the poem echoes your current stage of life—the laughter, the ache, the goal, or the creed?
- If “life must be what we make of it,” what’s one deliberate change you could make today to shape your life more intentionally?
- How does the interplay between joy and grief in the poem mirror your own experience of resilience?
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