To Be a Girl

Poem by Donelly Charles

One day in Borda at the Rally hotel
There was a kindly master and a mistress just as well
One day a sailor boy came sailing in from sea
and that was the beginning of all my misery
He ask for a pillow to rest his weary head
He asked for a blanket to keep in warm in bed
But I the foolish maiden takes it for no harm,
I jump upon the bed to keep the sailor warm
Early in the morning when the sailor boy woke up
he put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a pile of notes
He said take this my darling for the damage I have done
and let me know in nine months a girl child or a son 

If it’s a girl child you bounce her on your knees
If it’s a boy child you send him out to sea
Just as the father did from a little boy was he
Love to have much fun to play upon the sea
Love to have much fun to play upon the sea 

Now my fellow maidens takes this as a warning,
never trust a sailor boy one inch above your knees
For I have trusted one and what a good it’s done to me
He left a bouncing baby girl to play upon my knees
He left a bouncing baby girl to play upon my knees