The House by the Side of the Road

In the home where I grew up there was a den that my father used as his office.  Over his desk hung a painted goatskin with a colorful panel featuring vignettes of life in Africa.

I still remember the quote written at the end of the panel.  It said, “Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.”

When I was only five years old, I couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of those words, but I remember that they seemed “adult” and “deep,” and mysterious. All these years later, they remain with me, and I’m proud to still remember the quote today, more than seventy-five years later.

An internet search reveals the quote was from a poem, and a book, entitled, “The House by the Side of the Road,” by the American librarian and poet Sam Walter Foss, who lived from 1858 to 1911.  Foss died before my dad was born in 1914.

The poem was published in 1887 and was very popular in America at one time, although now it is mostly forgotten.

In any event, “The House by the Side of the Road” is an uplifting poem about choosing to engage with people in an accepting and non-judgmental manner. Be a friend to all who pass through your life. Perhaps those are still the best words to live by today in these times of divisiveness.

My mother was literary, my father pragmatic.  Looking back, I find it intriguing that my father chose those particular words to display over his desk. He was someone who didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve.

But our parents are role models we both cling to and run from, as we must, in becoming our adult selves.  This may be why I’m pragmatic to the core yet carry a deep appreciation for the wisdom and beauty of thoughts and words.

I find it fitting that for fifty-five years I have run a commercial real estate business (what could be more pragmatic?).  It is also fitting that for more than twenty years I have published Rattle, a poetry journal which reflects my desire to bring poetry to a wider audience, especially to those who might have initially thought that they didn’t like poetry.

And since I’m on the subject, allow me to sing the praises of Rattle.  I’m proud to report that our circulation is currently more than ten thousand copies quarterly, and that we publish one poet’s chapbook with every issue.

But this blog is basically a love letter to my mother and my father, as a “thank you” for helping to shape the self I have become: a man who chooses to live in a house by the side of the road… and be a friend to all.

Alan