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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GETTIN' WASHED, by BURGES JOHNSON Poet's Biography
First Line: At breakfast, when I'm kinder late an' hurry to my / place
Last Line: But you just bet I'll let alone that place behin' my ears!
Subject(s): Boys; Children; Cleanliness; Childhood
First Line: At breakfast, when I'm kinder late an' hurry to my / place
Last Line: But you just bet I'll let alone that place behin' my ears!
Subject(s): Boys; Children; Cleanliness; Childhood
At breakfast, when I'm kinder late an' hurry to my place,
An' wanter eat, some person says, "Oh, what a dirty face!"
Or, "Leave the table right away, those hands are a disgrace!"
When I come back all nice an' clean my mother says she fears
I didn't take a lot of pains to wash behin' my ears.
An' lots o' times when I've been out an' haven't touched a thin'
That could have dirtied me a bit, why someone's called me in—
'Cause what they went an' said was dirt was shadders on my skin.
But s'pose that cedar tree I climbed did leave some teeny smears,
I don't see how a bit could get 'way up behin' my ears!
Oh, when I'm big, without a nurse or grown-up folks that tease,
Some weeks I'll wear my oldest clo'es as dirty as I please,
An' muss my hair an' have big holes in both my stockin' knees.
Of course I'll wash each mornin', 'cept when play-time interferes,
But you just bet I'll let alone that place behin' my ears!
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