My mother, she told me no end,
'If you got a tooth, you got a friend.'
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.
(a) What does the mother mean when she says that teeth are like friends?
(b) Why did the poet not have time to spend?
© What is meant by the phrase, ‘no end’?
(a) The mother means that if we lose a tooth we can never get it back naturally. The same happens with a friend.
(b) The poet did not spend time on brushing her teeth or replacing her toothbrush when it was worn out because she felt that these things were not important.
© This phrase means ‘many times’ or ‘repeatedly’.