a poem

"Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

"Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye 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 his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

"The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But 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 Hulbert Hamilton


i've heard the last stanza of this poem for years, but i never knew who said it (i've always seen it attributed to "anon, who seems to do a lot of work :),but a friend of mine just posted it on facebook, so i thought i'd pass it forward and give the author credit.