101 Poems, Number 48

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

48: “The Little Boy and the Old Man,” from A Light in the Attic (1981), by Shel Silverstein (1930–99)

I used this poem in a speech*

Some years ago. I sought to teach

The notion that we fail to hear

The young, the old—the power of year.

The little boy complains about

How older people have some doubt

In him—because he’s young, you see.

The old man says, “The same with me.”

So, being listened to—a gift

Arriving only with the lift

Of years. But not too many. Then,

In age, we won’t be heard again.

*”Is Anybody Listening?” Western Reserve Academy, April 8, 2016

Link to poem.