The Wrist Watch Man

Edgar Albert Guest 1881 (Birmingham) – 1959 (Detroit, Michigan)



He is marching dusty highways and he's riding bitter trails,
His eyes are clear and shining and his muscles hard as nails.
He is wearing Yankee khaki and a healthy coat of tan,
And the chap that we are backing is the Wrist Watch Man.

He's no parlour dude, a-prancing, he's no puny pacifist,
And it's not for affectation there's a watch upon his wrist.
He's a fine two-fisted scrapper, he is pure American,
And the backbone of the nation is the Wrist Watch Man.

He is marching with a rifle, he is digging in a trench,
He is swapping English phrases with a poilu for his French;
You will find him in the navy doing anything he can,
For at every post of duty is the Wrist Watch Man.

Oh, the time was that we chuckled at the soft and flabby chap
Who wore a little wrist watch that was fastened with a strap.
But the chuckles all have vanished, and with glory now we scan
The courage and the splendor of the Wrist Watch Man.

He is not the man we laughed at, not the one who won our jeers,
He's the man that we are proud of, he's the man that owns our cheers;
He's the finest of the finest, he's the bravest of the clan,
And I pray for God's protection for our Wrist Watch Man.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

1:12 min read
149

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB CCXB DDBB EEBB XXBB
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,160
Words 232
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Edgar Albert Guest

Edgar Albert Guest was a British-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People's Poet. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. more…

All Edgar Albert Guest poems | Edgar Albert Guest Books

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