Aunties

Aunties

make

excellent playmates.

I am the queen

and you are the king;

you say sit here

and I sit.

And in class

my little girl

does not want to write

So I say:

I will not look

and then I feign surprise;

she is so delighted

we do it again for the next one.

Aunties

cook breakfast

enforce rules

read stories

make UP stories

wipe away tears

sing you to sleep

and when you are gone

they weep

and weep

and weep.

Aunties do not keep their babies.

We always send them home.

We know our limits

When you are mine

I am all yours

but always you must go

always I must be a wanderer

Always I have no home

when there is no small soul to anchor it