WHEN the dressmaker comes I am told to clear out, <br />For they don't want me anywhere hanging about; <br />At seven in the morning they send me away <br />With:' Don't you come back till the close of the day; <br />She'll be here for a week, and we've so much to do <br />That we can't afford to be bothered by you. <br />So get up and dress, <br />Eat your breakfast in less <br />Than a jiffy! She's coming today — clear the track! <br />Here's your hat. Now, good-bye; <br />Move along and be spry, <br />You must hurry away, but, O, don't hurry back.' <br /> <br />When the dressmaker comes every room in the place <br />Is littered with patterns and trimmings and lace; <br />There are snippings and cuttings from parlor to kitchen, <br />And stuff on each bed that the women are stitchin'; <br />And never a chair from the time they begin it, <br />But is sure to have needles and pins sticking in it. <br />And always they say, <br />At the coming of day: <br />'Get up and get out just as quick as you can, <br />Hurry up now, Skiddoo! <br />This is no place for you, <br />When the dressmaker's here we can't fuss with a man. <br /> <br />When the dressmaker comes I am driven from home; <br />They hand me my hat and command me to roam, <br />And the meals they do get would arouse Dr. Wiley, <br />The chops are half cooked and the coffee is 'riley,' <br />And all through the week not a kind word is said <br />Unto me from the morn 'till I sneak up to bed. <br />With a mouth full of pins <br />Thus my darling begins: <br />'Can't you see we are busy? We've no time for you, <br />Goodness gracious, please go, <br />You 're delaying us so, <br />And please don't come back till the dressmaker's through.'<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-the-dressmaker-comes/
