Borrowed+Poems

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would not take the garbage out! She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans, Candy the yams and spice the hams, And though her daddy would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out. And so it piled up to the ceilings: Coffee grounds, potato peelings, Brown bananas, rotten peas, Chunks of sour cottage cheese. It filled the can, it covered the floor, It cracked the window and blocked the door With bacon rinds and chicken bones, Drippy ends of ice cream cones, Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel, Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal, Pizza crusts and withered greens, Soggy beans and tangerines, Crusts of black burned buttered toast, Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . . The garbage rolled on down the hall, It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . . Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, Globs of gooey bubble gum, Cellophane from green baloney, Rubbery blubbery macaroni, Peanut butter, caked and dry, Curdled milk and crusts of pie, Moldy melons, dried-up mustard, Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, Cold french fried and rancid meat, Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high That it finally touched the sky. And all the neighbors moved away, And none of her friends would come to play. And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said, "OK, I'll take the garbage out!" But then, of course, it was too late. . . The garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate. And there, in the garbage she did hate, Poor Sarah met an awful fate, That I cannot now relate Because the hour is much too late. But children, remember Sarah Stout And always take the garbage out!

Long-Leg Lou and Short-Leg Sue Went for a walk down the avenue, Laughin’ and jokin’ like good friends do, Long-Leg Lou and Short-Leg Sue.

Says Long-Leg Lou to Short-Leg Sue, “Can’t you walk faster than you do? It really drives me out of my mind That I’m always in front, and you’re always behind.”

Says Short-Leg Sue to Long-Leg Lou, “I walk as fast as I’m meant to do.” “Then I’ll go walkin’ with someone new,” Says Long-Leg Lou to Short-Leg Sue.

Now Long-Leg Lou, he walks alone, Looking for someone with legs like his own, And sometimes he thinks of those warm afternoons Back when he went walkin’ with Short-Leg Sue.

And Short-Leg Sue strolls down the street Hand in hand with Slow-Foot Pete, And they take small steps and they do just fine, And no one’s in front and no one’s behind.


 * Both by SHEL SILVERSTEIN!!!**