At the centre of every family meeting
You’d find me surrounded by panellists;
Grannies, uncles and aunties, an endless list
Eager judges, they need no gavel.
They convict me with their stares
Find me guilty of my innocuous choices
Each judge claims to not have much to say
And goes ahead to give an epistle of a verdict!
One gives advice on what to do
Another on what not to do
One says a stubborn fly follows the corpse to the grave
The other says I’m the stubborn fly.
I say to my mother, I don’t have to choose their choice
They shouldn’t always have a say
I will love whom I’ll love, and I will
Do what I’ll do, I’m the stubborn fly.
Sit, says my mother, they are training you!
Even if you stand, you can’t see
What these elders see… Don’t you know
That it takes a village to train a child?
