Numerberless Fathers are True

You think that the failures are many,

    You think the successes are few,

But you judge by the rule of the penny,

    And not by the good that men do.

You judge men by standards of treasure

    That merely obtain upon earth,

When the brother you're snubbing may measure

    Full-length to God's standard of worth.

The failures are not in the ditches,

    The failures are not in the ranks,

They have missed the acquirement of riches,

    Their fortunes are not in the banks.

Their virtues are never paraded,

    Their worth is not always in view,

But they're fighting their battles unaided,

    And fighting them honestly, too.

There are failures to-day in high places

    The failures aren't all in the low;

There are rich men with scorn in their faces

    Whose homes are but castles of woe.

The homes that are happy are many,

    And numberless fathers are true;

And this is the standard, if any,

    By which we must judge what men do.

Wherever loved ones are awaiting

    The toiler to kiss and caress,

Though in Bradstreet's he hasn't a rating,

    He still is a splendid success.

If the dear ones who gather about him

    And know what he's striving to do

Have never a reason to doubt him,

    Is he less successful than you?

You think that the failures are many,

    You judge by men's profits in gold;

You judge by the rule of the penny--

    In this true success isn't told.

This falsely man's story is telling,

    For wealth often brings on distress,

But wherever love brightens a dwelling,

    There lives; rich or poor, a success.

-Edgar Guest, "Just Folks" 

Their virtues are never paraded,

    Their worth is not always in view,...

The homes that are happy are many,

    And numberless fathers are true;

But wherever love brightens a dwelling,

    There lives; rich or poor, a success.

I am going out to pluck rose for Daddy's grave off one of the bushes he and Momma planted when they moved here. This poem is in honor of him, but even more so for my daughter's father.

Giving thanks for fathers who earnestly seek to walk in the gargantuan footsteps of the Father of All. Blessed be His Name.