Why Not Lime?

Sharing a Shel Poem

I read other blogs to see what everyone else is up to, what their opinions are, and if there’s something important in this world that I don’t know about yet.

I’m still surprised to find people who think blogs are simply an online journal - a place to tell your personal story, or write about your emotions, etc. Blogs are very personal sometimes, but not as frequently as some people imagine. I find it helpful for sharing your personal knowledge or expertise about a particular subject, or creating a place for posting big ideas (eg. how to make the world a better place) or advice (eg. how to turn your shoe into a water fountain). (Don’t Google that.)

Sometimes I find a blog post that is particularly inspiring or thoughtful, and The Green Divas posted a poem that I read as a kid, but haven’t really understood before, or given much thought. It’s lovely, and I think it shares a peaceful vision of an earth-friendly, sustainable living world.

This poem can probably help all of us remember a quiet, peaceful place in our lives. It makes me think of my grandparents’ home in the country, surrounded by big fields, numerous flower gardens, orchard, and little nooks and crannies that were secret and mysterious, which all turned my childlike perception of reality into one long summer daydream.

There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And before the street begins

And there the grass grows soft and white,

And there the sun burns crimson bright.

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight

To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

And the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow

We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And watch where the chalk-white arrows go

To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go

For the children, they mark, and the children, they know

The place where the sidewalk ends.

                                                                                                                          Shel Silverstein, 1974

Posted under: Why Go Green, Green Inspiration