The Stick-Together Families by Edgar Guest: A Poem Celebrating Family Unity

The stick-together families
are happier by far
than the brothers and the sisters
who take separate highways are.

The gladdest people living
are the wholesome folks who make
a circle at the fireside
that no power but death can break.

And the finest of conventions
ever held beneath the sun
are the little family gatherings
when the busy day is done.

There are rich folk, there are poor folk,
who imagine they are wise,
and they're very quick to shatter
all the little family ties.

Each goes searching after pleasure
in his own selected way,
each with strangers likes to wander,
and with strangers likes to play.

But it's bitterness they harvest,
and it's empty joy they find,
for the children that are wisest
are the stick-together kind.

There are some who seem to fancy
that for gladness they must roam,
that for smiles that are the brightest
they must wander far from home.

That the strange friend is the true friend,
and they travel far astray,
they waste their lives in striving
for a joy that's far away.

But the gladdest sort of people,
when the busy day is done,
are the brothers and the sisters
who together share their fun.

It's the stick-together family
that wins the joys of earth,
that hears the sweetest music
and that finds the finest mirth;

It's the old home roof that shelters
all the charm that life can give;
there you find the gladdest play-ground,
there the happiest spot to live.

And, O weary, wandering brother,
if contentment you would win,
come you back unto the fireside
and be comrade with your kin.