Song for a Fourth (or 5th, or 6th...) Child

Song For A Fifth Child

Mother, O 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 as 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 his eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait til 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 Hulburt Hamilton