Babies don't Keep

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 love this poem. My mom has this cross stiched and it hung in the nursery and still hangs over the crib at her house. I remember rocking my younger sister's and brother and reading it to them. It wasn't long before I had it memorized. Now that I'm a mother with small children of my own it rings so true.