How I feel about a Shel Silverstein poem

I like this poem.



Forgotten Language

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?

Shel Silverstein


Our adult lives are so stressful and filled with responsibilities that we forget how wonderful and simple things were when we were children. This poem is quite touching because it inspires the reader to recall that time and perhaps try to incorporate those basic and simple pleasures into our lives now. This poem has a wistful simplicity about it, obviously portraying a connotation of lost or forgotten youth and innocence.

This idea is further underlined by the simplicity of the words and structure of the poem itself. I like Shel Silverstein’s poetry because often he uses such extremely simple language to express very profound and contemplative ideas; although much of his work was classified as “children’s poetry”, there are almost always underlying adult themes present. The weight of this particular poem could perhaps be read into differently if you know the life circumstances of Silverstein himself, as he lost his daughter at an early age.

This poem also reminds me of a passage from Mary Poppins, one of my favorite books, in which the twins John and Barbara are babies in the crib. Due to their tender age, they're still blissfully un-grown-up. They therefore are still one with nature, and can converse with the animals and the elements. Even their siblings Jane and Michael, while still children, are able to speak plain English, they can reason, they've passed this beautiful point of youth and are now too old to speak to flowers and animals. One day John and Barbara reach the age in which they no longer have these powers and this event is explicitly chronicled in the book.

I really like this poem, but it is actually quite a sad one, as it reminds us of the inevitability of growing up and the passage of time.