You leave at eight and lock the doorway The building settles with a sigh You think we wait in tidy silence Until the afternoon goes by The moment footsteps leave the stairwell The bear declares the house awake The rabbit rolls across the pillow And plans the schedule we must make While you’re away, we get pretty busy There’s hardly time to sit around We hold important toy discussions And patrol every suspicious sound The monkey checks beneath the sofa For coins and crumbs and missing keys The puppy watches through the curtains And reports on passing birds and trees We build a bridge from folded laundry We race your slippers down the hall The turtle serves imaginary coffee While the giraffe appears too tall At noon we hold a grand performance The hairbrush is our microphone The dinosaur sings three long ballads And claims he wrote them all alone While you’re away, we get pretty busy Keeping your small kingdom in line We chase a fly out of the kitchen And finish slightly after nine We practice poses for your photos We trade old stories from our shelves We wonder what you do without us And laugh for thinking of ourselves Then someone hears the elevator The room becomes a sudden race We put the cushions back in order And every toy resumes its place The key turns softly in the doorway You enter with a puzzled stare One slipper sits upon the table Though you are sure it was not there While you’re away, we get pretty busy But all our grand adventures end The best part of the day is hearing You have come back home again
