Shall we not Burn? -UdySylva

“I miss you so much today but don’t reply. It’s my Mom’s number.”

Was that love, Ekpeowo? I would argue so.

That message you had sent because I was too ill to make it to school on that Thursday.

I never asked how you had managed to make it through school that day,

Seeing as just the previous day, I was the air you breathed.

It’s wonderful, isn’t it, reminiscing this innocence?

When you told me you were returning to Nigeria from the UK,

The first thing that worried me was whether or not I would recognize you at the airport.

Yet as you say, I am too stubborn to cure my curiosity.

I want to see for myself whether or not my heart and yours are connected by that string you always wrote of.

Would your heart tug at mine the moment you appeared through the door,

So I would know that my Ekpeowo is back?

The years have been beautiful since we parted in Cambridge in July 2019.

I refused to look back as I walked through the terminal and onto the plane.

But our paths had been determined, right?

You would go on to join a Monastery and I would join the Convent,

And we would unite only through the love of Christ.

Was this not because we thought the love we shared was too whole and extra,

That we could never manage it?

That no one ever could.

It would burn us whole we had said with painful regrets that evening as we walked through the Bridge of Sighs as the students scurried by

When we had decided it was best to simply let go.

Was it not because of this great love we had decided to freely share with the world from it’s wealth?

So how is it that when you sent me the news of your arrival, you hoped that we could pick up from where we left off,

That we would wander the red earth of Enugu, hands interlocked,

And we would tie the knot at Lutheran Church where my soul is most content?

When did your plans change?

And what was that silly joy I felt as I read,

That excitement that added an extra gait to my step,

That filled my lips with tunes and my steps with dance as I went about my activities.

Shall this love not consume us?

Shall I recognize you as you walk to me,

Shall you recognize me if I don’t hold a placard with your name?

Tell me Ekpeowo,

What is this that I feel?

It is stronger than before.

Shall we not burn in this passion?

-UdySylva