Play Nicely [Illustrations by D. K. Sharma (First published in NBT's Bulletin, Sept-97)]
Play Nicely [Illustrations by D. K. Sharma (First published in NBT’s Bulletin, Sept-97)]

The kids next door have everything
you can think of and yet they love to come in
and play with us.
Their mother makes an awful fuss.
Says, ‘You’ll come filthy, in such a mess!’
Oh yes!

That’s just what they like about our place.
Nobody says, ‘Go wash you face,’
or “Look at your shoes! Look at your hair!”

My Ma, she doesn’t seem to care,
When we’re having fun it’s quite all right,
it will all come off in the bath tonight.

My Ma, she thinks that dirt and noise
are rather good for girls and boys.

112 words | 1 minutes
Readability: Grade 3 (8-9 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: poems
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