Ol' man Simon, planted a diamond. Grew hisself a garden the likes of none. Sprouts all growin' comin' up glowin' Fruit of jewels all shinin' in the sun. Colors of the rainbow. See the sun and the rain grow sapphires and rubies on ivory vines, Grapes of jade, just ripenin' in the shade, just ready for the squeezin' into green jade wine. Pure gold corn there, Blowin' in the warm air. Ol' crow nibblin' on the amnythyst seeds. In between the diamonds, Ol' man Simon crawls about pullin' out platinum weeds. Pink pearl berries, all you can carry, put 'em in a bushel and haul 'em into town. Up in the tree there's opal nuts and gold pears- Hurry quick, grab a stick and shake some down. Take a silver tater, emerald tomater, fresh plump coral melons. Hangin' in reach. Ol' man Simon, diggin' in his diamonds, stops and rests and dreams about one... real... peach.

Silverstein composed original music for several films and displayed a musical versatility in these projects playing guitar piano saxophone and trombone. He told Jean Mercier of PubliShel Silversteinrs Weekly: "When I was a kid—12 to 14 around there—I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls but I couldn't play ball. Employing a sketchbook format with typewriter-styled captions he documented his own experiences at such locations as a New Jersey nudist colony the Chicago White Sox training camp San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district Fire Island Mexico London Paris Spain and Africa.

Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein (September 25 1930 – May 8/9 1999) was an American poet singer-songwriter cartoonist screenwriter and author of children's books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children's books. Translated into more than 30 languages his books have sold over 20 million copies.