'Just Say It!'

 

“People are always giving you credit for really wanting to say more than you said. What you've got to say, you say.” – Shel Silverstein

 

Silverstein, born in Chicago on Sept. 25, 1930 was an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, children’s book author and illustrator, whose works have been translated into 30 languages and sold well over 20 million copies. Perhaps his best-known book – continuously in print since its publication in 1964 – is The Giving Tree. 

 

Silverstein, who died in 1999, won two Grammy Awards, including one for Johnny Cash’s mega-hit A Boy Named Sue, and one for the song I’m Checking Out, which also won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination.    But it was his wonderful poetry – especially for kids, but often across generational lines – for which he will long be remembered.  Poems like “Where The Sidewalk Ends,” “Clarence Lee From Tennessee,” “The Missing Piece,” and “A Light in the Attic.”  And, for Saturday’s Poem, his touching short poem,

 

         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."

               "Well, 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.

 

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