In honor of Shel Silverstein’s birthday, here is one of his poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends.
MAGIC
Sandra’s seen a leprechaun,
Eddie touched a troll,
Laurie danced with witches once,
Charlie found some goblin’s gold.
Donald heard a mermaid sing,
Susie spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known
I’ve had to make myself.
Shel Silverstein was indeed a magic maker, as well as a poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, and author of best-selling children’s books. He was born on September 25, 1930 and died on May 10, 1999. If he were still alive, he would be 83 years old today, and still stirring up trouble, no doubt.
In 2011 a posthumous collection of never-before-published poems titled Every Thing On It appeared. Seems he is still going strong. So a big “happy birthday” to Shel.
By the way, did you know that in addition to writing poems and stories for kids, and drawing cartoons for Playboy, Shel wrote some hit songs? “Put Another Log on the Fire,” “One’s on the Way,” “The Unicorn,” “The Cover of Rolling Stone,” and “A Boy Named Sue” are all his.
Posted by Nancy, who would “rather play at hug o’ war.”