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 Hulburt Hamilton

A friend of mine posted an excerpt from this poem on her Facebook today and it really sank in. I memorized this poem when D was still in my belly and promised myself I would keep it in mind as he grew.

The problem is, life just keeps happening doesn't it? It's relentless and pushy. It keeps trying to force me away from my little Roos. Or at least it tries. Thing is, the more it tries, the more I resist.

I posted awhile back with my domestication issues. Thing is, I think somewhere, back in my mind, this poem holds me back from the dust and the cobwebs to do what I love most in life. To snuggle and play and kiss and wrestle and rock and rhyme with the two most incredible little boys on the planet. The rest can wait. I don't need a perfect house, I don't need a shiney car, I don't need a three course meal every night. The people that matter most to me don't see it anyway.

My babies will only be babies for such a short time. They grow up SO fast and I want to enjoy every. single. second. of it.

Lullabye, rockabye lullabye loo.