With a Cherry on Top

A little girl in a clean white dress
Smiles as the ice cream crawls down her chin.
Her brother drops his on the floor
And cries, “Mom, can I have another scoop?!”
Sister says “NO! Don’t be silly, stupid.
It’s your fault you dropped it!”
While mother frantically cleans up the mess,
And brother runs off to ask for a new cone,
And the little girl squirms and wriggles, and says,
“I want another scoop, too!”

It’s amazing to me there still exists
A sane mother on this planet.
How can one accomplish those remarkable feats
That require four arms, at least,
And eyes in the back of the head?
A mother does all that she can for her children:
She loves them, forgives them, protects them, too.
And helps them with homework,
And cares when they’re sad.
And when that ice cream falls to the floor,
She buys them another, though it costs her last cent,
And what’s more, she says, just because,
“And that’ll be with a cherry on top.”