Babies Don't Keep

Song For a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

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 her 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.

This poem has been making the rounds on the blogs and I find it simply divine.

I was just talking to a close friend about how I feel more busy now that I'm staying home then I was when I was out working.

This poem helps me remember how precious each day with my Josie Kat is.

And that while the dishes can wait until tomorrow

And the laundry may be knee deep,

Right now my baby's a baby,

And babies just don't keep.