Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DIZZY DAUGHTER, by WALT MASON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DIZZY DAUGHTER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mary jane, you dizzy daisy, what a mess
Last Line: She's with us you should aid her, not make work for her to do.
Subject(s): Advice; Mothers & Daughters


MARY JANE, you dizzy daisy, what a mess you always make! Are you careless of
just lazy? Is your intellect a fake? All your traps, you heedless critter, I see

strewn around the floors; Ma will come and clean the litter, when she's done her

other chores. Always counting on another to do things you ought to do, always
waiting for your mother to come toiling after you! Ma will all this mess
abolish, when she's dusted forty chairs, when she's put a coat of polish on the

furniture upstairs; when she's cleaned and scaled some fishes, when she's pared

a pail of spuds, when she's washed the dinner dishes, when she's patched a heap

of duds, when she's so dodgasted weary that her work-worn soul is frayed, she'll

come toiling round you, dearie, cleaning up the muss you've made. Mary Jane,
your mother's older than she was when she was young; she has stitches in her
shoulder, and the asthma in her lung; every step she takes is harder than the
step she took before, as she wanders from the larder to the well or henhouse
door. Some sad day we shall have laid her to her rest, her labors through; while

she's with us you should aid her, not make work for her to do.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net