Sick

At the end of a very long week yesterday, I was out of ideas regarding how to entertain my kids. Does that ever happen to you? It is like being back in elementary school and looking at the clock every two minutes, wondering when it will all come to an end. To cure everyone's angst, I piled us into the car and headed for the local library. It turned out to be just the diversion we needed. Not only were the shelves of books a welcome change, but the library also had an assortment of blocks, puzzles, and other fun toys to distract the kids.

After G and L finally settled down and were quietly playing, I came across one of my childhood favorites, Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein. What joy! What fun! I added it to our pile of books to check out.

I've been looking through the book this morning, smiling and remembering how some of the poems are slightly disgusting. I think my all-time favorite, though, is this one:

Sick
By Shel Silverstein

"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!"

Published in 1974, it still makes me happy.

-Francesca