Helper

Housewuck a sinting weh never done

Yu wuck roun di clock an no hab no fun

So if yu hab a job plus a husban

Yu fi try an get a helper if yu can.

Now Valerie live eena one hellova house
So yu expect har fi hab a helper of course

Shi hab three pickney an a full time job

An add to dat shi hab a husban name Bob.

Everytime mi si Valerie, shi too busy

Shi even complain seh har head often dizzy

Shi doan even hab time fi talk pon di phone

Shi seh all di wuck lan pon she alone.

One day mi jus get upset wid har

So mi gi har a piece a mi mine sar

Mi sey, “A full time yu tap gwan like idiot Valerie?

Yu hab pickney an husban an yu still unhappy.

Yu wuck out yu soul case bout yu a cut an carve

 If yu hire a helper unnu not gwine starve

 Wi hab plenty poor people who waan fi live

 Hire one meck God bless yu, fi wat yu give.

 Wen yu pay di little wages, it nah done yu money

 But wen yu overwuck an get sick, it won’t  bi funny

 For it sad wen yu rich an yet yu nuh healthy

 But a joy if yu healthy, tho yu nuh suh wealthy.

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Patricia Whittle is Jamaican. She has published two books namely Mi Waan Fi Publish A Book: An Anthology of Jamaican Dialect Poems and Johnny, Mass Tom and Fatal Error: Three Short Plays for the Jamaican Audience. She is a librarian and a teacher of English Literature.