Listen to me and do not go,
To any other fields of grain;
Do not leave this one for I know,
Soon we can expect some more rain.
Stay with the other handmaidens,
Watch where the farmers are reaping;
If you see a storm cloud threatens,
Run to where the cows are sleeping.
The young men are not to touch you,
Nor make perverted advances;
For you know the thoughts they construe,
They would love possible chances.
When you are dry feeling the thirst,
Go to the jars and get a drink;
But let not yourself be coerced,
By how men with lustful minds think.
But why would they pay attention,
To a foreigner in this land;
When she lures not with affection,
Other girls have the upper hand.
People have said what she has done,
Stayed with mother when husband died;
Although there was no other son,
The relationship not denied.
She left the place where she was born,
To a country she did not know;
A strange land that she did sojourn,
With a different status quo.
May God reward what she has done,
A rich reward she may receive;
Moving to a land knowing no one,
With a new faith for to believe.
She came sheltered with protection,
Acts of kindness will continue;
Guidance from God gives direction,
Someone is able to construe.
Do not give her any problems,
Give not her to trouble about;
Do not be a bunch of hoodlums,
Causing her to start raising doubt.
Copyright © 2017 Richard Newton Sherrer
