SONG FOR A FIFTH CHILD
(THE VALUE OF VALUES)
Ruth Hulbert Hamilton
Mother, oh 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, lullaby loo)
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Lullabye, rockabye, lullaby loo)
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullaba-loo
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo"
Look, aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs! And dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!
I discovered this poem many years ago when my fifth child, Rich, was a baby.
Happy Mothers' Day everyone, and especially to the five wonderful children
that I have been privileged to raise. It seems like yesterday that you were
all babies and we were "blissfully rocking".
