Someone mentioned the last line of this poem in a post I had last week, so I went and looked it up. I have yet to read it without getting all teary and choked up. I may still have crazy post-partum hormones, but I thought I'd share it here anyways.
Song for a Fifth Child
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, rock-a-bye, Lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek-peek-a-boo).
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo."
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, 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.
Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958
Re: Poem keeps making me cry...
My mom made a needlepoint of the last verse for DD's nursery. I love it!
ETA: And I see it every day, and still tear up.
I LOVE this poem, and cry everytime.
Does it count if my house is a mess because when LO is sleeping, I'm on the computer?
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old