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AUNT HATTIE
Aunt Hattie was a dear old soul
her face was black and plain
she lived on Daddys property
way off down the lane
No one knew Aunt Hattie's age
she wouldn't tell a soul
she'd just grin, and as her gold tooth shown
she'd say, I really am quite old
Oh how I loved Aunt Hattie
she was my real good friend
I'd sit in her lap, we'd rock and sing
and the time I got to spend with her
well
I prayed it would not end
We never knew where she came from
she just appeared there at our door
she said she'd had no food to eat in quite a while
as she collapsed upon the floor
We kept her there for many days
and it was plain to see
that she needed help really bad
so Dad ask about her family
she sadly shook her head
as a tear leaked from her eye
I thank you kind sir she said, for all youve done
but to leave you, I must try
But Daddy didn't let her go
and Momma said, 'No Way"
you can stay as long as you want to
and you don't thave to pay
Hattie had no one at all
she had no kith or kin
she said her one and only son, had been killed
out some where, where he ought not to have been
No one came looking for Aunt Hattie
no there was not any one
Oh how I wanted her to stay, for no one had any time for me
that is, till Aunt Hattie came
She'get up every morning, helping Momma
doing chores that had to be done
then we'd take a walk and pick some flours
and she'd go to bed with the sun
She told me such wonderous stories
of princes and of kings
she tales of old Africa, her native land
oh she told me many things
Her grand father had been a chieftain
from a little village there
he wore leopard claws around his neck
and a bone weaved in his hair
She said these were tales her Momma told
how one day the slave ship came
they cought and loaded every one
the old, the young, the lame
How they took them far, far away
across the emerald sea
to serve rich men for all their life
and never ere be free
Now when Hattie got well again
she she wanted her own space
she wanted so to try
so she moved into Daddy's little old log cabin
built from all cross ties
She got a cot and dresser
Dad gave her chickens and a milk cow
my uncle gave her garden seeds and tools
and a big old pregnant sow
Mom gave her plates and pots and pans
a cook stove chairs and table
Aunt Hattie said was quite enough
for with all this she'd be able
to live there quite nicely
and she lived there quite a while
and when I'd go to see her
she'd greet me with a smile
Her flowers grew just every where
red, white, yellow and some blue
and the bouquets she kept in her quart jar vase
near the window,showed us all quite a view
Her gardens grew and flourished
and she'd can all summer long
and she was thankful, for as she sweated
from that old wood stove
she sing a happy song
She had one old sway backed mule
that she'd ride to town alone
she gathered things that she surely needed
and then she'd simply ride back home
Well Aunt Hattie went on to her reward
in fact, t'was just last year
and now as I walk by her little home
and see her empty chair
rocking in the breeze, I quietly shed a tear
