Christmas and HIV

What does Christmas mean to people
to a child whose lost
her parents due to HIV
and feels that enormous cost
remembering her mother
how she held her
how she smiled
How she told her she was there for her
how she was her first child
a bowl of mash was all we ate
but made with love, and we
just sat there on the dry parched earth
our dreams, imaginary

father he was stronger
he had an angry voice
compared to mother he was course
but then kid’s have no choice
we’re told these are your parents
and we have to go along
with the fact,
but really Christmas
reminds me just how wrong

father was for roaming
his urges took control
it reminds me of my mother
she was such a precious soul
father wasn’t close at all
neither was my brother
but I resented father
for infecting my mother

he brought it home
the HIV
oh! yes he did and it seems to me
and she alas was the first to die
she had lots of pain
which made me cry

and I think about my mother
how she did love me
how she told me stories
and sat me on her knee
it feels as though
it was yesterday
I remember her soft touch
so I can’t abide my father
but I miss my mother much