Edgar Guest? Anonymous?
Dear Quote Investigator: When I was a child I found a book at my public library, a collection of poetry. My favorite poem in it was entitled “Cherry Pie” and was (I thought) by Edgar Guest. Since those days I have tried to relocate the work but with no luck. I remember only the final lines:
… and then, even though I die
As I wend my way to Heaven I’ll be full of cherry pie!
Can you track this down?
Quote Investigator: Yes, the poem was titled “Cherry Pie” and was printed in a syndicated newspaper column called “Just Folks” by Edgar A. Guest on May 29, 1935. Here is the first verse [MJEG]:
I’ll obey them in the winter when the doctors say to me
I must give up ham and spinach, and obedient I’ll be.
To relieve my indigestion in December they can try.
But there’s none of them can stop me when it’s time for cherry pie.
The rest of the poem is readable by following this link to the Milwaukee Journal where the text appears in column 1 of page 4.
A slightly different version was printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The last line contained the word “went” instead of the less common term “wend” [PGEG]. Guest almost certainly meant to use “wend”.
In conclusion, the questioners memory is excellent. The poem was composed by Edgar A. Guest and was published in his daily column in 1935.
(Many thanks to Jude Lauren for this fun gustatory question.)
[MJEG] 1935 May 29, Milwaukee Journal, Just Folks by Edgar A. Guest, Page 4, Column 1, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Google News archive) link
[PGEG] 1935 May 28, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Edgar Guest Daily Poem, Cherry Pie, Page 12, Colmn 3, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Google News archive) link