The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
...The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse... Wonderful poem.
A unique topic of the poem, I like the unexpected just unique. Thank you for sharing this thought-provoking poem.
The boot is famous to the earth, more famous than the dress shoe, this stanga is very nice which is famous only to floors
Absolutely top-notch in its writing and in its heart-felt message.
Wonderful poem, it is the blend of name, fame and glory and the needs and wants of human.
This poem captures everything I love about the poetry of Naomi Shihab Nye, the conversational tone, the startling aspect of ordinary experience suddenly seen from a different angle, the quiet grace, the humor.