What does this poem mean (by shel silverstein)?

Forgotten Language





by shel silverstein








Once I spoke the language of the flowers,


Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,


Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,


And shared a conversation with the housefly


in my bed.


Once I heard and answered all the questions


of the crickets,


And joined the crying of each falling dying


flake of snow,


Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .


How did it go?


How did it go?

What does this poem mean (by shel silverstein)?
It reminds me of a child, they talk to things like they play with them. I used to pretend I could communicate with my cat and she would talk back to me. Now I can't remember how to speak cat. I'm grown up and it's gone. I think it also is imagination. A child's imagination is so much more vivid. As we learn reality, we kind of taper and mold our thoughts so we are more normal. As an adult it would be hard to talk toflowers or a housefly. Just my interpretation. I love Shel Silverstein
Reply:I think it explains the dying out of this worlds life, this worlds joy, this worlds meaning to exist.
Reply:I think its bout some1 thinking back to their childhood but cant remember
Reply:I'm not sure but to me it sounds like childhood.
Reply:I think he may be writing about how he was connected to nature, once he understood it. Now he doesn't and does not understand why
Reply:I think the author is describing himself. At one time in his life he felt connected to the world around him, experiencing all facets of emotion including joy, compassion, sadness, curiosity, admiration and excitement. I think he's describing his disassociation from reality, and is trying to remember what those things felt like.
Reply:To me it appears as an adult wistfully looking back at the wonders of childhood.....didn't you feel that way as a child?... As an adult, it seems all you can do is remember it, but not can't regain it....and you don't know when or how you lost it.
Reply:it's a loss of connection with nature (once i spoke the language of the flowers) which can also mean your roots/ past.
Reply:Once I was a child and now I cannot remember.
Reply:I used to be in touch with nature ...








... but not any more.
Reply:I think it has something to do w/ the loss of innocence and sense of wonderment that we have as children as we grow older. How a rainbow was a magical event where you knew there really wasn't a pot of gold there, but the possibility was still open--what if? How all sorts of natural events or phenomena carried a sense of mystery, and the possibility of adventure--about how, in short, everything tends towards monotony and routine, and we lose the sense of newness and excitement that everyday experience can bring.
Reply:Do you remember what you thought and knew when you were a baby? Of course not. The poem's conceit is that perhaps as a baby you were able to understand the language of the flowers and animals.





The notion is not a new one, nor is it original to Mr. Silverstein. The original Mary Poppins stories included the idea.
Reply:I think he wrote it to baffle all those little boys who were reading Playboy when they shouldn't have had access to the magazine in the first place. But that is just my opinion.
Reply:I believe it is about mankind, and that we lost our ability to communicate with nature, and that we don't even realize that we have lost the ability.