Sticks and stones are hard on bones Aimed with angry art, Words can sting like anything But silence breaks the heart.

McGinley’s quatrain overturns the playground maxim that verbal cruelty is harmless. She concedes that physical violence (“sticks and stones”) injures the body, and that deliberately weaponized language can “sting,” but she reserves the deepest wound for silence—refusal to speak, acknowledge, or respond. The final line suggests emotional abandonment: neglect, coldness, or ostracism can damage a person’s inner life more enduringly than overt insult. The rhyme and sing-song cadence echo children’s verse, sharpening the irony: what sounds like a simple jingle delivers an adult insight about intimacy and the human need for recognition.