Two Sides of the Same Heart

Today I had the pleasure of listening to my children read me poems by Shel Silverstein. They would each choose one of their favourites and then in their turn, read it to me. I must have heard 50 poems by the time we were finished. It still makes me smile.

I read Shel Silverstein as a child and I remembered a lot of them but the one that always made me laugh was called Sick.

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

Although most of his work makes you smile and chuckle, he can also make you cry. Well, he can make me cry anyway. I know there is some controversy about this story, but just like anything else, its open to our own interpretation and I can relate to this story.

It doesn't make me cry because it makes me sad, not really. It's just that this "tree" loves this boy so much that she would do anything, give him anything, just to see him happy. His happiness was what made her happy, even though she knew that after she gave him what she could, he would still go away. She would still be alone but she was always happy to see him and he always came back. Just when she thought she didn't have anymore to give, he reminded her that she did...

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein