Poems by Shel Silverstein

All Poems Original Poems Translations

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Crowded Tub

There are too many kids in this tub

There are too many elbows to scrub

I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine

There are too many kids in this tub.

by Shel Silverstein

God's Wheel

God says to me with a kind of smile,

"Hey how would you like to be God awhile

And steer the world?"

"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.

Where do I set?

How much do I get?

What time is lunch?

When can I quit?"

by Shel Silverstein

In Search Of Cinderella

From dusk to dawn,

From town to town,

Without a single clue,

I seek the tender, slender foot

To fit this crystal shoe.

From dusk to dawn,

I try it on

Each damsel that I meet.

by Shel Silverstein

Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe

It's two in the mornin' on Saturday night

At Rosalie's Good Eats Café.

The onions are fryin', the neon is bright

And the jukebox is startin' to play.

And the sign on the wall says, IN GOD WE TRUST,

ALL OTHERS HAVE TO PAY.

And it's two in the mornin' on Saturday night

At Rosalie's Good Eats Café.

by Shel Silverstein

The Meehoo With An Exactlywatt

Knock knock!

Who's there?

Me!

Me who?

That's right!

What's right?

Meehoo!

That's what I want to know!

by Shel Silverstein

Messy Room

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

His underwear is hanging on the lamp.

His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,

And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.

His workbook is wedged in the window,

His sweater's been thrown on the floor.

His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,

And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.

by Shel Silverstein

The Perfect High

There once was a boy named Gimmesome Roy. He was nothing like me or you.

’Cause laying back and getting high was all he cared to do.

As a kid, he sat in the cellar, sniffing airplane glue.

And then he smoked bananas –– which was then the thing to do.

He tried aspirin in Coca–Cola, breathed helium on the sly,

And his life was just one endless search to find that perfect high.

But grass just made him want to lay back and eat chocolate–chip pizza all night,

And the great things he wrote while he was stoned looked like shit in the morning light.

by Shel Silverstein

Recipe For A Hippopotamus Sandwich

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.

All you do is simply take

One slice of bread,

One slice of cake,

Some mayonnaise

One onion ring,

One hippopotamus

One piece of string,

by Shel Silverstein

Enter This Deserted House

But please walk softly as you do.

Frogs dwell here and crickets too.

Ain't no ceiling, only blue.

Jays dwell here and sunbeams too.

Floors are flowers - take a few

Ferns grow here and daisies too.

Swoosh, whoosh - too-whit, too-woo

Bats dwell here and hoot owls too.

by Shel Silverstein

Listen To The Mustn'ts

Listen to Mustn'ts, child, listen to the Don'ts.

Listen to the Shouldn'ts, the Impossibles, the Won'ts.

Listen to the Never Haves, then listen close to me.

Anything can happen, child, Anything can be.

by Shel Silverstein

A Boy Named Sue

Well, my daddy left home when I was three,

and he didn't leave much to Ma and me,

just this old guitar and a bottle of booze.

Now I don't blame him because he run and hid,

but the meanest thing that he ever did was

before he left he went and named me Sue.

Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke,

and it got lots of laughs from a lot of folks,

by Shel Silverstein

Twistable Turnable Man

He's the Twistable Turnable Squeezable Pullable

Stretchable Foldable Man.

He can crawl in your pocket or fit your locket

Or screw himself into a twenty-volt socket,

Or stretch himself up to the steeple or taller,

Or squeeze himself into a thimble or smaller,

Yes he can, course he can,

He's the Twistable Turnable Squeezable Pullable

by Shel Silverstein