Now I Charge Him Of Vehicle Embezzlement Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

The judges believe the young man took that
Car, because I was in love with him. I ask
The judge how a woman three score years, can
Be in love with a young man of seventeen, who
Is her next door neighbor. He says I left the
Keys in the car, and had him drive it, before
I argue that I was sick, and had nobody to drive
Me, for in these years when my varicose veins
Have me limping, I cannot trust my leg on the
Gas pedal. Therefore, this charge of vehicle
Embezzlement, that has the world against me.

His mother swears I have kissed him before.
I deny and say I would rather go to jail
Than do an act so improper, for the child
Is underage. I never knew that cars could
Be embezzled, and now I know that you can
Embezzle a cat and also a jacket. For when
Something is not yours, it is not yours.

I grew up with the law, written on my hand,
For my father did not pay child support.
I did not know that he was embezzling that
Money which was supposed to have made me,
Into a better person than what I am. If
He had owned up, I would be Miss Universe
For I would have not bought the food I
Ate and gotten so big, for lack of a
Proper Meal. When you embezzle food, note
That it may be in this world where you,
Are putting the money in the cheaper stuff
And hence will pay for the weight will show,
You were taking where you should have not.

This bait is in every trap where you might
Put your hand, in the cookie-jar. Take it
as kleptomania, this deed of stealing what
Is not yours. As we say in the south of
Africa, what is not yours hands off.
Do cut your hand off, before you get charged
With all kinds of embezzlement, for if we
Can embezzle cars, I do not know where
The buck stops.