Shadow Wash (Monday Poem)

by Shel Silverstein


I've never washed my shadow out
In all the time I've had it.
It was absolutely filthy I supposed,
And so today I peeled it off
The wall where it was leaning
And stuck it in the washtub
With the clothes.
I put in soap and bleach and stuff,
I let it soak for hours,
I wrung it out and hung it out to dry,
And whoever would have thunk
That it would have gone and shrunk
For now it's so much
Littler than I.



Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, 1974, Harper & Row