Sunday afternoon when we were all tired and sick
Mom suddenly snapped when she let out a, “That’s it!”
She was tired, then sniffly, then suddenly mad
And then she would get all frustrated then sad.

She slumped off to the couch and curled up in a ball
Then earnestly, silently for help she did call,
Sincerely she asked, “Oh what shall I do?”
“I know, Lord, I am not being pleasing to You.”

And so patiently, faithfully, the voice from above
Came to her aid with some words full of love,
“Clean the kitchen”, He told her, that well-known voice said
So she made her resolution and lifted her head.

Then off to the kitchen she headed quite quickly
Still flustered, still tired, and still very sickly.
She turned on the faucet, water poured out
And she washed all those dishes stuck under the spout.

Then on to the counter, then on to the ledge
So set in her mission, so set in her pledge
Every crumb, every splatter, she cleaned them all up
She cleaned every platter, she cleaned every cup.

Still flustered and sickly, on to the next room
When she’d straightened that up she brought in the broom
She swept and she vacuumed, she tackled that floor
Then she looked around, ready for more.

Her husband and daughters looked on in alarm
They snatched up their belongings to keep then from harm
“Mom’s lost it!” Dan said. He warned Lydia too,
“Better watch out, she might throw away you!”

“The TRASH!” she remembered was crowding the floor
She hauled it all out to the hall by the door.
She piled the books, she threw away paper
And when all looked neat her frenzy, it started to taper.

And just as she finished her straightening huff
Her husband announced, “I think that’s enough”
Mom stopped her mission and looked at everyone
With a soft happy smile she said, “I’m done.”

Half a week has now passed since Mom got so mean
but clues from her snapping can still be seen.
And the lesson to be learned from Mom’s flustered huff
It that when Mom gets overwhelmed, hang on to your stuff.