Have you Earned your Tomorrow
by Edgar Guest
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In this inspirational poem, the 'people's poet' Edgar Guest asks the reader a series of searching questions to make us reflect on how we have spent our day and whether we have done any good to others. Is anybody happier because you passed his way? Did you give a cheerful greeting to a friend, or a curt 'Howdy' and vanish in the crowd? Were you purely selfish, or is someone grateful for a kind deed you did? Did you help a single 'brother' among the many you passed? Did you leave 'a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent'? The poem ends by asking whether, as you close your eyes in sleep, God would say you have 'earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today'. The message is clear and uplifting: our future is 'earned' by our present goodness, so we should spend each day doing kind and worthy deeds.
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'Have you Earned your Tomorrow' by Edgar Guest is a simple, uplifting poem written entirely as a series of questions. It urges the reader to examine each day and to earn a better future through kindness and good deeds done in the present.
Questions about kindness
The poem opens by asking whether anybody is happier or remembers you kindly because you crossed their path today. As the 'toiling' day ends, is there anyone to say a kind word about you? Did you greet a friend cheerfully, or give only a curt 'Howdy' and disappear into the crowd?
Selfishness or service?
The poet asks whether you were 'selfish pure and simple' as you rushed through the day, or whether someone is 'mighty grateful' for a good deed you did. Did you help even a single 'brother' among the many you passed? Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said, or has a discouraged person now been given fresh courage?
Earning your tomorrow
The poet then asks whether you 'wasted' or 'lost' the day, whether it was 'well or sorely spent', and whether you left 'a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent'. The poem closes with its central question: as you close your eyes in sleep, do you think God would say you have 'earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today'?
The message is uplifting and moral: our future is not given but 'earned' through the goodness of our present actions. Each day should therefore be spent doing kind, generous and worthy deeds.