A little fellow follows me

sailortodd · Jun 15, 2016

In the spirit of the grand day many of us will celebrate Sunday as fathers, sons and daughters, I want to share a poem I came across today. It came to my inbox via The Art of Manliness blog, cited as an anonymous poem, and after some digging I discovered it was a poem much loved by late great basketball coach John Wooden, supposedly written by a Rev. Claude Wisdom White, Sr (of whom I can find nothing about). It nearly brought a tear to my eye as a father of a two year old boy, and I now have it printed with a photo of him next to my desk. The version I want to share combines two different endings from different versions I found today. The versions I have found either have stanzas 1-4 or 1-3 and 5-6. For your reading pleasure:

A careful man I want to be —

A little fellow follows me.

I do not dare to go astray,

For fear he’ll go the self-same way.
I cannot once escape his eyes.

Whatever he sees me do he tries.

Like me he says he’s going to be —

That little chap who follows me…
He knows that I am big and fine —

And believes in every word of mine.

The base in me he must not see —

That little chap who follows me…
I must be careful as I go

Through summer’s sun and winter’s snow,

Because I am building for the years to be;

This little chap who follows me.
But after all it’s easier,

That brighter road to climb,

With little hands behind me —

To push me all the time.
And I reckon I’m a better man

Than what I used to be…

Because I have this lad at home

Who thinks the world of me.

jerwynn · Jun 15, 2016

Yes! :clap:

johnbarleycorn · Jun 15, 2016

Good one.

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sailortodd

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jerwynn

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johnbarleycorn

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