Song for a Fifth Child
By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby 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?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for 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.
As spring has finally sprung here it has made me think a lot about my priorities. The nice weather has made me stop and think about enjoying life, not always rushing through it. I've taken the kids on field trips, we've gone on walks and just spent time together outside. It has been heaven to not be cooped up and just enjoy my kids again. At first there was this nagging in the back of my brain. "There's laundry to be done, I've got calls to make, and we can't have sandwiches for dinner again." Then came the realization that my time as a mother of young children is fleeting. The housework will always be there, but my children won't. I'll admit that I pretty much had things under control up until I had my fourth child. I never had a problem keeping things clean and organized and always had several hours a day to play with my kids. Now I have found with four children, lessons, and all our other responsibilities, I frequently have days when it is physically impossible to get everything done. It is really, really hard for me to let things go undone, but I'm trying. Trying to ignore dust and fingerprints. Trying over-look beds that aren't perfectly made. Trying to make happy memories for my kids, everyday.
They grow so quickly . . . Julia, Anthony & Meghan when we moved here.
The kids now . . .
3 comments:
Loved the poem, thanks for sharing! That is exactly what I have been trying to do lately, "trying" is the key word here. It won't be long before they won't want to snuggle with me or play with me. Sometimes I wish there were two of me!
They're so little! I don't remember them being so young when you moved here, but I guess that's what a few years does right? Thanks for the reminder to just enjoy them now, because they grow too fast. I need to do the same, I wish I was better at ingnoring the mess and enjoying the small moments.
You're such a good mom. I need to take this advice because I'm not much of a "playing" mom. I better try harder :)
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