For Too Short A Date It Was, To Just Melt Away Poem by Mang'eni Wycliffe Obwoya

Here I am in the world,
Marooned and lost of so many a word,
Abandoned by those who brought me here;
Faraway from those whom I held dear.


I was in love before,
So sweet to me smiled the world,
Butterflies like clouds danced like never before,
Kisses, smooches traveled and found there way,
To my lips even when I was away.

Her name became almost like my own,
Her voice replaced my mom's own,
She made me laugh to the jokes I made;
Her laughter my pillow, her breast my bed,
Her beautiful smile, my candle;
And her eyes the stars in my universe …
When everything was good.

Today, I stand alone,
My legs feeble, my knees, tired
My heartbeat tells my fright,
Hope has fled the core,
And the fear of loosing her spreads a chill,
Stronger than I can bear.

Though my heart still beats in my chest,
It's every beat is growing weaker and more faint,
The mocking bird still mocks my very jest,
The painter I was has disappeared with the brush and paint,
Should I stay on living like this,
And watch mine own dreams and aspirations melt away,
Or should I die before its death?

I was naïve to fall in love,
I was a coot to trust,
I was dumb to believe the laughter,
A nincompoop to believe her smirk,
And now see the mire I have landed into,
To just watch my dreams melt away.

As I bid farewell to the good tight nights,
Days of lights and starry nights,
As I bid farewell to days of too short a date,
Dates when we were too familiar to each other,
And like mates we found ourselves together,
It is a decision my heart won't allow,
A decision whose strength my tired self has to borrow.
Let me console myself in the witty words of my forefathers;
"e'silai n'esirehe, n'ehere liafuucha esa".
For too short a date it was, to just melt away