Ernest Hemingway
On This Day in American History - Ernest Miller Hemingway, author of such novels as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” is born in Oak Park, Illinois. July 21, 1899
In Oak Park, born beneath a fated star, He wrote of bullfights, wars, and seas so grand, With prose so clear, his fame spread near and far, A lion-hearted man of strength and sand. In Paris streets, with friends he drank and laughed, Fitzgerald, Stein, and Pound by his side, In words, his rugged spirit was enshrined, In battlefields and bullrings, he was chaffed. Across the globe, his adventures did roam, From Africa’s plains to Cuba’s warm embrace, In literary circles, he found his home, Yet shadows crept and dimmed his vibrant grace. His pen has stilled, but his legend stays, In hearts and minds, through endless days.