Monday, April 20, 2009

Babies don't keep...

I've always loved this poem. Whenever I am up with one of my kids in the middle of the night rocking them I think of the last two lines of this poem and it makes the tiredness go away, it makes me want to keep rocking forever! I have to say it was particularly true for little Bentley (who, incidentally got stung by a bee ON HIS EYE today...well, near his eye, so sad!). Bentley only got to be the baby for a little while, and one day soon he will be taller than I am, but I will remember the nights right before Ivy was born where I would sneak into his room and pick up his tired body and rock him. I was rocking my baby, cuz babies don't keep.

Anyway for those of you tired mothers out there, I hope you enjoy this 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

6 comments:

Karina said...

I'm pregnant and therefore crying after reading this poem. I loved it! Thank you.

BTW, I cried at the part that said "Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?" So what!

julianne orth said...

what a cute poem, it made me cry too, but i am not pregnant!

Shauna said...

Hey! I have that poem (the last stanza) framed on my kids' wall. I've had it since they were babies. I love it, but they are getting too grown up to want it for room decor. Do you want it? I'll send you a picture of it and you can decide.

Becca said...

Thanks for posting that, perfect for me right now! Thanks Fids!

Tom and Tami said...

After staying at Aunt Nancy's beautiful St. George house I came home and felt very depressed with my own messy house. Thanks for the reminder of what's most important right now!

Stephanie said...

I love this poem as well! Aunt Jann gave it to me when our kids were little and I often thought of it when I was tired or busy and tried to remember to put those things aside and focus on them and their cute ways! Some of my favorite memories as a mom have been rocking my babies! Now they are all bigger than me, well almost!!