'Wait till your Pa comes home!' Oh, dear! <br />What a dreadful threat for a boy to hear. <br />Yet never a boy of three or four <br />But has heard it a thousand times or more. <br />'Wait till your Pa comes home, my lad, <br />And see what you'll get for being bad, <br /> <br />'Wait till your Pa comes home, you scamp! <br />You've soiled the walls with your fingers damp, <br />You've tracked the floor with your muddy feet <br />And fought with the boy across the street; <br />You've torn your clothes and you look a sight! <br />But wait till your Pa comes home to-night.' <br /> <br />Now since I'm the Pa of that daily threat <br />Which paints me as black as a thing of jet <br />I rise in protest right here to say <br />I won't be used in so fierce a way; <br />No child of mine in the evening gloam <br />Shall be afraid of my coming home. <br /> <br />I want him waiting for me at night <br />With eyes that glisten with real delight; <br />When it's right that punished my boy should be <br />I don't want the job postponed for me; <br />I want to come home to a round of joy <br />And not to frighten a little boy. <br /> <br />'Wait till your Pa comes home!' Oh, dear, <br />What a dreadful threat for a boy to hear. <br />Yet that is ever his Mother's way <br />Of saving herself from a bitter day; <br />And well she knows in the evening gloam <br />He won't be hurt when his Pa comes home.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wait-till-your-pa-comes-home/
