Gracious Poem by Ahmad Shiddiqi

(dedicated to my son and people who love children’s story books, poems, and illustrations)

He wrote humorous words
He drew lovely pictures
He told social opinions
He created funny creatures

He invented new words
He also drew cartoons
A friend published his books
He became one of successful writers

He was born in Springfield
In Massachusetts, a nice field
Nineteen zero four, March second
From Dartmouth College, he graduated

A year studying literature, he spent
At Oxford University in England
In the year nineteen twenty-seven
He returned to his homeland

His books sometimes seriously dealt
With protecting environment subjects
Also about life and society in equality
And the activity with responsibility

He wrote books for the children
He had a strong desire to help children
He decided to write story books
Those were easy to read by kids

He used rhyming words too
Bump, jump; two, do
Fish, wish; play, day
Fight, night; sunny, funny

He used simple sentences
We play all day
We fight all night
How that bump make us jump!

He used less than two hundred and twenty-five words
This was an estimate number of words
A child, six-year-old
Should be able to read

Sam-I-am
Green Eggs and Ham
Thing One, Thing Two
Little Candy-Lou Who

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
The Lorax, and Fox in Socks
Those books were an immediate success

The children loved them
Their parents loved them
Many adults in east and west
Say about the stories they like best

He won the Pulitzer Prize
He had been writing children books
At that time for almost fifty years
He also wrote meaningful books for adults

His influences remain
Through books he illustrated
Millions of copies have been
Spread and sold worldwide

In nineteen ninety-one, he died
He was eighty-seven years old
His books already helped
The way children learned to read

The National Education Association
Calls every child in America
To celebrate reading action
In Red Across America

The Post Office has honored
With a new picture stamp
In the lovable picture
The Cat in the Hat feature

He was as great as
Charles Perrault
The Brothers Grimm
Hans Christian Andersen

He was as brilliant as
Carlo Collodi
Johanna Spyri
Lewis Carroll

He was as original as
John Amos Comenius
Oscar Wilde
L. Frank Baum

He was as prolific as
E. Nesbit
Beatrix Potter
Laura Ingalls Wilder

He was as extraordinary as
Arthur Ransome
Hugh Lofting
Dodie Smith

He was as simple as
Enid Blyton
C. S. Lewis
Jean de Brunhoff

He was as excellent as
Erich Kästner
E. B. White
Antoine de Saint Exupéry

He was as famous as
Robert L. May
Georges Prosper Remi
Astrid Lindgren

He was as creative as
Leo Lionni
Roald Dahl
Beverly Cleary

He was as astonishing as
Shel Silverstein
Lois Lowry
Judy Blume

He was as innovative as
Jane Yolen
Sharon Creech
Jacqueline Wilson

He was as explorative as
Charles Ghigna
Philip Pullman
Laura Numeroff

He was as caring as
Christopher Paul Curtis
Rene Villanueva
Kate DiCamillo

He was as flexible as
J. K. Rowling
Eoin Colfer
Lemony Snicket

He was as daring as
Mark Twain
Philip Pullman
Mark Haddon

He was as splendid as
Selma Lagerlöf
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Alexey Tolstoy

He was as superb as
Carl Sandburg
Daisy Ashford
Lewis Carroll

Sir, these below sentences
Are made for admiration of you
Maybe not as good and profound as
Sentences are ever made by you

But please, believe me, Sir
The children will love them
Because they are inspired by the dear
And are made deeply for them

I exactly agree
To plant a green tree
I surely believe
Kindness I will receive

In morning I clean floor
In evening I open door
So my all friends can play
They may run around everyday

How many interesting games
In parks, schools, and homes
We can play happily together too
How I wish we had something to do!

(inspired by Doctor Seuss’ children story books)