Hostage Poem by Lone Dog

My dear aunt's been held a hostage.
Her captor; circumstance.
Her chains; devotion to duty,
Not acquired in youth by chance.

Yes, my aunt's been held a hostage
By responsibilities.
She's never had the freedom
To do whate'er she pleased.

She's never had the freedom
To find another mate,
She has never had the freedom
To be master of her fate.

When abandoned by her husband,
She supported mother and son,
And cared for a dying sister
Who'd bequeath her two more sons.

She heeded her widowed brother
Who offered his home and support;
Now, trapped as the head of the household,
She could not, her mission, abort.

So, Aunt captained a ship of three families;
With a sometimes mutinous crew;
But the groups of competing factions
Survived all the storms journeyed through.

The crew has all disembarked now.
Her brother's been placed in a 'home'.
With none of her family beside her
She knows how lonely is lone.

Her brother's now nearing one hundred,
While Aunt's eighty-seven herself,
Still, she tends to the needs of her brother
To the detriment of her own health.

So dear Aunt's still being held hostage;
Far too old to be caring for Fred!
But her duty comes before freedom,
And freedom won't come `til he's dead.

But life without Fred has its downside.
At her age there's no way she can win,
For freedom from duty will make her
More lonely than ever she's been.