“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
- Ernest Hemingway

I wanted to find my writing style
And I wanted to learn from the best
I figured I’d start with Hemingway
And from there, I would find all the rest

I followed him from Paris to Pamplona
To run head-on with Papa and the bulls
He drank his way to the Festival of San Fermin
Held his head high as the bullfighter pulls

By the time I arrived in Pamplona
Hemingway was already long gone
But he’ll be with us as The Sun Also Rises
And for this, his spirit will always live on

So he decided to join the Italian Army
To fight alongside the machismo pawn
He ended up driving an ambulance
And used the nurses for romantic spawn

By the time I arrived in Gorizia
Hemingway was already long gone
It was here that he wrote his Farewell to Arms
And for this, his spirit will always live on

So he journeyed to fight alongside the guerillas
At Segovia, in the Spanish Civil War
He blew up the main bridge with dynamite
And wrote about it in For Whom The Bell Tolls

By the time I made it to the front line
Hemingway was already long gone
It was here that he fought hard to kill fascists
And for this, his spirit will always live on

So he then left for Varadero, Cuba
To write The Old Man and the Sea
About a once great fisherman who had it all
Who understood how cruel life on the water could be

By the time I arrived in Varadero
Hemingway was already long gone
But it was here he earned his Pulitzer Prize
And for this, his spirit will always live on

Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize
He was an American writer who liked to drink
He fought against so many inner demons
He retired to Ketchum to relax and think

By the time I arrived in snowy Ketchum
Hemingway’s mind was already long gone
He could no longer cope, so he took his own life
And for this, his spirit will always live on

I've always been fascinated by Hemingway
And would never think I could match his pen
But I'll keep on trying, and maybe one day
I will write a short story and dedicate it to him

Thank you, Papa, for all the extraordinary stories, the inspiration, and the motivation to write!

© 2023 Jeffrey Pipes Guice, Finding My Hemingway