Dirty Dishes - A Poem
John D. Telgren


Just look at these dishes!
Do I have to clean them now?
I will wait because I am busy on my riches

Out in the market place and in the rush
So much to do, so many places to be
Then I return and survey it all with a hush

Oh, how I hate to do those dishes
I know what I will do, I will hide them
Out of sight, out of mind & more time for wishes

Someday I will clean those dishes and it will be over
I wanted to hire someone to do it
They can only be done by the owner

Things got so bad as I hid them in every nook and cranny
For I had many unwanted visitors
The mice and the roaches so many

Then one day, he came to me
The visitor I had longed for
With those dishes hidden away, perfect was it all, I could see

We would not come through the door
He said he could see what was hidden in the walls and floor
All of the impurity, unclean and stored

No mansion, no delight, not to come true the wishes
Only to sit here
Forever in despair and torment with nothing but these dirty dishes

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence."You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also (Mt 23:25-26)."