Song for a Fifth Child
The following is by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton and was published in the Lady's Home Journal in 1958
Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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2 comments:
Ah, that's one of my favorites, thanks for the reminder. 8 of mine are teenagers now, and the other eight are 11 years old and younger. So I have experienced how fast they grow. And it's true, a clean house is great, but the baby has to come first. I don't regret a second of the time spent rocking and hugging. Even though it tires me out, I still don't mind nursing Camille in the night....
Aww what a sweet poem, and such a wonderful message... Thanks for posting that :-)
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