A Boy's Mother

IV

Gay, Humorous, Comic

James Whitcomb Riley

My mother she's so good to me

Ef I was good as I could be,

I couldn't be as good—no, sir!

Can't any boy be good as her!

She loves me when I'm glad er mad;

She loves me when I'm good er bad;

An' what's a funniest thing, she says

She loves me when she punishes.

I don't like her to punish me;

That don't hurt, but it hurts to see

Her cryin'—nen I cry; an' nen

We both cry—an' be good again.

She loves me when she cuts and sews

My little cloak and Sunday clothes;

An' when my pa comes home to tea,

She loves him most as much as me.

She laughs an' tells him all I said.

An' grabs me up an' pats my head;

An' I hug her, an' I hug my pa,

An' love him purt' nigh much es ma.