Unwashed Dishes

I ate the mashed potatoes

and the broccoli and the stew.

I had a cup of tea

And vanilla ice cream too.

The next day I had salad

and some warmed up apple pie.

I glanced over at the dishes

sitting piled up, what a sty!

I would not wash the dishes

Though they truly looked forlorn.

I added two more glasses

And the plate from my creamed corn.

The stack only grew higher

and things began to stink.

Piles and piles of dirty dishes,

growing higher in the sink.

The next day I ate eggplant

And some lemon egg drop soup.

The dishes got all crusty

with yellow-whitish goop.

I went back to the sofa

to watch some more TV.

I felt something fly past me.

I turned. What did I see?

A large plate flew right by me

It was followed by a cup.

I watched as one by one

all my dishes floated up.

As those plates flew past me

all that I could do was stare.

There was some slight panic

when a fork caught in my hair.

They floated out the window

And they flew out to sea

After all that sitting

my plates wanted to be free.

I watched as they flew

and I waved a fond good-bye

As my dishes left me

and flew off into the sky.

I didn’t do the dishes.

But I really should have done.

Because now I don’t have any.

It was I who made them run.

And I sit here hungry

because now I cannot eat.

You see, without my dishes

all my food is incomplete.

Here you find my lesson:

Wash your dishes every day.

‘Cause if you don’t pay attention,

They might just fly away.