In remembrance of the famous American author, illustrator, poet and song writer, Shel Silverstein – we compiled 11 of his great, many poems and decided to share them with our wonderful VerMints’ fans on his birthday.
Shel Silverstein was born on September 25, 1930 and passed away on May 10th 1999 due to a massive heart attack. He grew up around the Chicago, IL area and started drawing at the age of 7. He was first published in the Roosevelt Torch and his first book was, Take Ten, which was a cartoon series published by Pacific Stars and Stripes in 1955. Since that time he started writing children’s poetry and wrote many popular books, such as, The Giving Tree, A Giraffe and a Half, Uncle Shelby's Story of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, and other treasurable works.
Photo courtesy of: entertainthis.usatoday.com
1. SPIDER
A spider lives inside my head
Who weaves a strange and wondrous web
Of silken threads and silver strings
To catch all sorts of flying things,
Like crumbs of thoughts and bits of smiles
And specks of dried-up tears
And dust of dreams that catch and cling
For years and years and years…
-Shel Silverstein
2. LOSING PIECES
Talked my head off
Worked my tail off
Cried my eyes out
Walked my feet off
Sang my heart out
So you see,
There’s really not much left of me
-Shel silverstein
3. THE NAILBITER
Some people manicure their nails,
Some people trim them neatly,
Some people keep them filed down,
I bite ‘em off completely.
Before you start to scold,
Remember, I have never ever
Scratched a single soul.
-Shel silverstein
4. THE ROMANCE
Said the pelican to the elephant,
“I think we should marry, I do.
‘cause there’s no name that rhymes with me,
And no one else rhymes with you.”
Said the elephant to the pelican,
“There’s sense to what you’ve said,
For rhyming’s as good a reason as any
For any two to wed.”
And so the elephant wed the pelican,
And they dined upon lemons and limes,
And now they have a baby pelicant,
And everybody rhymes
-Shel Silverstein
5. REFLECTION
Each time I see the Upside-Down Man
Standing in the water,
I look at him and start to laugh,
Although I shouldn’t oughtter.
For maybe in another world
Another time
Another town
Maybe HE is right side up
And I am upside down
-Shel Silverstein
6. SNOWBALL
I made myself a snowball
As perfect as could be,
I thought I’d keep it as a pet
And let it sleep with me.
I made it some pajamas
And a pillow for its head.
Then last night it ran away,
But first – it wet the bed.
-Shel Silverstein
7. FOR SALE
One sister for sale!
One sister for sale!
One crying and spying young sister for sale!
I’m really not kidding,
So who’ll start the bidding?
Do I hear a dollar?
A nickel?
A penny?
Oh, isn’t there, isn’t there, isn’t there any
One kid who will buy this old sister for sale,
This crying and spying young sister for sale?
-Shel Silverstein
8. WOULDA-COULDA-SHOULDA
All the woulda-coulda-shouldas
Layin’ in the sun,
Talkin’ ‘bout all the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done..
But those woulda-coulda-shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did.
-Shel Silverstein
9. DON’T TELL ME
Please don’t tell me I should hug,
Don’t tell me I should care
Don’t tell me just how grand I’d feel
If I just learned to share.
Don’t say, “it’s all right to cry,”
“Be kind,” “be fair,” “be true.”
Just let me see YOU do it,
Then I just might do it too.
-Shel Silverstein
10. EARLY BIRD
Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird
But if you’re a worm, sleep late.
-Shel Silverstein
11. HAPPY ENDINGS?
There are no happy endings.
Endings are the saddest part
So just give me a happy middle
And a very happy start
-Shel Silverstein
