Shel Silverstein

According to Wikipedia, Shel Silverstein was an "American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books."  Phew! Boy have I been screwing off. With 20,000,000 copies of his books sold, obviously he isn't obscure - still, it's good stuff.  I must confess, we probably have all of his books, and for a time they were the favored bedtime stories for my daughter. There is an obscure LP called Tompall Glaser Sings the Songs of Shel Silverstein. If you ever come across it, buy it, regardless of the price.

I like the following because as a small child I had physical boundaries. I could go past Pete and Enola Sorenson's house, past Levi Peterson's, and on past the Andrew Hanson place. That is where the sidewalk ended. Literally. That was the end of the world as I knew it for six years. From that point on it was weeds and corn fields that went on forever .... "and the children, they know The place where the sidewalk ends."

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

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.

We are all trees.