Hello… hello… hello

Hello… hello… hello

I met a man I could not see.

But I know he lives not far from me Out past the lake, and up the hill,
For when the wind and the birds are still, I stand alone and call \”COME
OUT!” And down from the hill I hear him shout: \”OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT!
OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT!”

—Well, it starts as a shout, as I think you see, But gets small, and
then smaller, then small as can be. But you can’t hear the smallest he
knows how to say, For it jumps up the hill and goes far far away Till it
dims into nothing and fades into sky. . And you still seem to hear it,
far out and up high, Till little by little you hear it grow still, And
you’d say there was no one up there on the hill.

But you know that there is. And he’s someone you know. And his name
is— That’s right! He is MR. ECHO.

I Met a Man I Could Not See by John Ciardi

What happens when you shout a big \”hello” near a mountain, between tall
buildings, or in a large, empty hall or gym? Well, you may hear an
echo—another \”hello” just like the one you said.

Sound bounces off hard, smooth things the same way a ball bounces off a
wall. The echo of your \”hello” is reflected sound—sound that bounces
back to you.

Why don’t you always hear echoes? It depends on how far the sound goes
before it bounces. In a small room, the sound you make travels only a
short distance before it bounces. It comes back so fast that it seems
like part of what you are saying.

But in a very large room, the sound travels a while before it bounces
back. By the time the sound comes back, you have finished speaking. So
you hear the sound a second time.

You can even hear the sound you make again, and again, and again. For
example, if you shout between two tall buildings, the sound can bounce
back and forth between the walls. When that happens, the sound is
reflected back to you from more than one spot. You hear \”hello . . .
hello . . . hello . . .” from each reflected sound—until the sound
dies out and the echoes stop.