Sit Pretty Baby Here I Come Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

I once thought I was so beautiful,
I would marry a man who would say,
Sit pretty baby here I come, and loads
Of love and money would sit on my lap.

I woke up and found that all men, had
Neither jobs nor the ability to get
One at the snap of a finger, while
I sat on a couch waiting with hands
Outstretched.

I learned that my brother was laughed
At, for he was told he had married a
Consumer, for his wife did not work.
I fought for the mother I was, and
Cried out on behalf of the working
Woman, for there was no fun in leaving
My kids so I could chase money.

I worked myself sick with milk
dripping onto my clothes, for there
Were no breast pumps in my country.
The love poured out of my chest,
Causing me to feel embarrassed, for
The leaking married woman I was,
Who had taken to work as if I had,
Taken to the streets running away
From my infants.

I stand assured that when the milk
Stirs in us, we want to go back to
The days when men could say, sit
Pretty baby here I come, but we have
Seen that going to the place of work,
Creates a new you that makes the old
You call on you and say, we have taken
A step further in being baby. The two
Of you start to doubt if you really
Liked the first you, for the ignorance
Of the past always haunts the knowledgeable
You, the world has made.

Resting on our laurels was never our
Idea, but leaving our children was also
Never a good idea. Somewhere in the midst
Between the second where midnight
Turns into day, lies the answer, for
We live assured that the reward will
Never come from others, but from those
Whose hands were outstretched for their
Mouths needed the sip, from the nipple
Just as we once did for we are the
Babies that have become mothers. It is
Not the love of coins in the purse, but
The push of the midnight hour, breaking
into two that pulls the string and
Closes the little duffel bag like purse.
That is why sit pretty baby has decided
It is time to go hitch hiking, lest the
Man finds her scrubbing the floor. She
Has faked illness and seen that the best
Way out is to go out with the girls.