Mama Bendel

I still remember the old days
 When I was young and in school
 My mind will wander to when I was so confused
 And I was never sure of whom I was
 I was living far away from home
 I missed my family and my friends
 But out of the gloom there was a woman
 Who kept us laughing into the deeps of the night
 And we called her Mama Bendel
 To her we went for our meals
 She made amala the way I liked it
 Mama Bendel - She was always there
 She put the shine in my dull days
 She knew how to make a stone laugh
 She knew how to lift my dark clouds away
 She told me stories of how she grew up
 As a young girl in a village far away
 She painted a world of happiness
 And taught me the things mother forgot to teach
 She talked about love and pain
 And what you must do to keep your head
 Up above the storms of life
 She was Mama Bendel
 She would sing and dance
 To soothe my young soul
 Mama Bendel - Honest and true
 She was the queen in my little world
 Now Mama Bendel is gone away
 She died in her sleep a few years ago
 They said just before she left
 She gave everyone a smile and said
 "I'll be seeing you very soon"