2006-Jan-30 - I'll take 'The Other Side"......
I got this in an email from MarmeeDear (aka Marmee's Kitchen www.MarmeesKitchen.com ) in her Home Journal....loved it....had to share!!
THE ONE SIDE
I's such a waste of time to cook, I'm just a walking cookery book.
I make and bake the morning through The favorite pies and pudding too.
And then, in half an hour, or less My toil has gone to nothingness.
It's a waste of time to dust the stairs,
To clean the brass and polish the chairs,
To sweep and pick up bits of fluff For nothing's ever clean enough.
Five minutes after I have done, Someone is sure to romp and run,
Kick out the stair-rods, flick the mats
And slam the doors and scare the cats.
Some sticky hand is sure to press The brasses from their sprightliness.
I tidy up, and do the dusting, but all the while, my wings are rusting.
Then, washing day, it seems to me Is just a waste of energy.
What use to stand before a tub and soak and rinse and bleach and rub?
Next week the self-same garments stain will come into my hands again.
It's such a waste of time to mend, one has no sooner reached the end
Of last week's pile, then -- need you ask it?
This week's fills the mending basket!!
The stockings which were hale and hearty
Return from each picnicking party
Weak and worn and wanly show great gaping holes in heel and toe.
While buttons have a cantankerous way of disappearing every day.
Sponging off the spots and ironing creases, between it all, I'm worn to pieces!!
Woman, from cradle to the grave is nothing but a galley slave.
THE OTHER SIDE
I've done an angel's work today!!
Yes, such an honor came my way, real angel's work!
And lest you doubt it, I am going to tell you all about it.
Well, first I cooked. It was so nice to plan the pies, stewed fruit and rice.
God sent His angel once to make Cakes for a poor wayfarer's sake.
But just today He honored me, and sent the task my way, you see.
Then, while I tidied up the place, gave every knob a radiant face
Back of my mind this thought would lurk that I was at an angel's work.
Putting away coats and dresses, and moving small unsightlinesses,
For, oh! 'tis such a lovesome thing, just straightening out and freshening.
And after that I washed a few small, wooly garments, old, not new.
Things I had rubbed and rinsed before quite forty times, or even more.
And as I hung them on the line I thought what God-like work was mine!
To cleanse -- ah, me! -- to wash out stains till not a single speck remains.
So later in the day twas sweet to sit and rest my tired feet,
Mending the clothes and plan out too, how to make the old things new.
For surely 'tis an angel's way to put things right from day to day.
To find thin places and repair the glad rags and the sturdy wear.
Since wear and tear must surely be on this side of Eternity,
I'm feeling very proud to say I've done an angel's work today!
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