My dishes went unwashed today, I didn't make the bed;
I took his tiny hand and followed where his footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring, my little son and I,
exploring all the great outdoors beneath the summer sky.

We waded in a slippery stream, we wandered through a wood;
my kitchen wasn't swept today but life was sweet and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade and now my small son knows
how Mother Bunny hides her nest, where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,
we climbed a sunlit hill,
saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky.
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected, that I didn't sweep the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth will know, nor would they even care.

But that I've helped my little boy to noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world may look...and see...and know.