An AIDS Orphan's Poem

"It Has Taken My Soul"

My Mother and Father have both died of it.

I am now called "an AIDS orphan."

The only experience of being an orphan was in nightmares.

But now it is real.

It has taken my soul because it has taken my Mother and my Father from me.

I am all alone now, even though my Grandmother is trying to take care of me,

She really cannot.

I try to listen to what my Grandmother is telling me about AIDS - what to do, what not to.

But I am too weak - I can hardly concentrate on her words.

When I go to bed at night my whole body turns stiff because of the cold.

My Grandmother tries to give me her blanket, but I refuse because she needs it more than I do.

During the day I am not able to attend school because there is no money for fees. So, I help in the fields.

There are many of us now.

-An AIDS orphan in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa

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