SHEL SILVERSTEIN'S Poems

Shel Silverstein’s poems can transport you into a different world…a world which is not always sugar-coated…and more-often than not is quirky and down-right wicked. Here are a few of his gems:

ANTEATER
"A genuine anteater,"
The pet man told me dad.
Turned out, it was an aunt eater,
And now my uncle's mad!

ONE INCH TALL
If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.

If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.

You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).


THE LITTLE BOY AND THE OLD MAN
Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy,
"it seems Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

Where the Sidewalk ends ~ Shel Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

The Tale of Custard The Dragon ~ Ogden Nash

...in an attempt to keep the ol'clogs well-oiled, I have decided to memorize stuff...poems, songs, thoughts, quotes and what-have-you....and first on my list is "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" by Ogden Nash. It appeals to my love for the inane...

The Tale of Custard the Dragon
Belinda lived in a little white house,

With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,

And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,

And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink,

And the little gray mouse, she called hum Blink,

And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,

But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.

Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,

And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,

Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,

And realio, trulio daggers on his toes.

Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears,

And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs,

Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,

But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful,

Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival,

They all sat laughing in the little red wagon

At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.

Belinda giggled till she shook the house,

and Blink said Weeck! which is giggling for a mouse,

Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,

When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound,

And Mustard growled, and they all looked around.

Meowch! cried Ink, and Ooh! cried Belinda,

For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.

Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,

And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright,

His beard was black, one leg was wood;

It was clear that the pirate meant no good.

Belinda paled, and she cried Help! Help!

But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp,

Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,

And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.

But up jumped Custard snorting like an engine,

Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon,

With a clatter and a clank and a jangling squirm,

He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm.

The pirate gaped at Belinda's dragon,

And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon,

He fired two bullets, but they didn't hit,

And Custard gobbled him, every bit.

Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him,

No one mourned for his pirate victim.

Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate

Around the dragon that ate the pirate.

But presently up spoke little dog Mustard,

I'd been twice as brave if I hadn't been flustered.

And up spoke Ink and up spoke Blink,

We'd have been three times as brave, we think,

And Custard said, I quite agree

That everybody is braver than me.

Belinda still lives in her little white house,

With her little black kitten and her little gray mouse,

And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon,

And her realio, trulio little pet dragon.

Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears,

And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs,

Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage,

But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage.

Food for Thought

This was a poem by Rudyard Kipling, which talks about strength of character, determination and how we can shape our destiny. While it could very well be a growing-up litany that a father imparts to his son......I was quite inspired by the words. Here goes....

If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
And make allowance for their doubting, too;

If you can wait and not get tired of waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies;
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating;
And yet don’t look good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream, and not make dreams your master;
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you have spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you give your life to, broken,
And stoop, and build them up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold On!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch-
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you-but none to much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And-which is more-you’ll be a Man, my son!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Rudyard Kipling

Rudolph gets the pink slip!!

The Planet Mars is going to be unusually bright this Christmas Eve, and with the full moon providing it's additional wattage......it looks like Dear Santa can give Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer a well-deserved break!!



So the good people at Yahoo! have reworked a certain reindeer song, to make it more understandable to kids and dim-witted adults like me!

Mars is a red-tinged planet
With a very shiny glow
And if you look to see it
You will find the moon in
tow.

All of the other Yuletides
Santa would have at his
side
The shiny nose of Rudolph
Acting as his big sleigh's
guide

But this very Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph, now with Mars so bright,
You can stay at home
tonight."

Then all the reindeer teased him.
And they shouted
out with glee:
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
Outsourced to
astronomy."

Christmas In The Woods

I am well and truly getting into the Holiday Mood....despite the fact that the Coconut Ice Fudge I made yesterday turned out to be a miserable, congealing mass of petrified coconut. Ah well, one of my bad days.....this is what I get for promising my buddies with Christmas Confections!! (note to self...***keep big yakking mouth shut till absolutely sure that the christmas goodies do ACTUALLY turn out as portrayed in the recipe book!!!***)

To drive out the cooking-fiasco blues.....I lugged out this heavy (and I mean fall-on-you-foot-and-fracture-it-heavy) book of poems, hoping to come up with a neat passage to add a nice touch to my Christmas Greetings. And I came across this simple and wholesome poem about Christmas in the wilderness. It has it's cutesy-pie charm and is straightforward...with no hidden nuances. Morover it reminded me of a picture of a beautiful red fox I had come across on deviant Art.
Here it is.....

Christmas In The Woods

Tonight when the hoarfrost falls
on the wood,
And the rabbit cowers, and the squirrel is
cold,
And the horned owl huddles against a star
And the drifts are deep, and the year is old,
All shy creatures will think of HIM.
The shivering mouse, the hare, the wild young fox,
The doe with the startled fawn
Will dream of
gentleness and a Child.

The buck
with budding horns will turn
His starry eyes to a silver
hill tonight,
The chipmunk will awake and stir
And leave his burrow for the chill, dark midnight,
And all timid things will pause and sigh,
and sighing, bless
That child who
loves the trembling hearts,
The shy hearts of the
wilderness

~ Frances Frost