Wait For Me, My Love. Poem by paul mumbuna

WAIT FOR ME, MY LOVE
I have known you a long time, my woman…
Long before these city lights,
Long before the noise of work and the weight of distance.
Five years now
Five years of loving you through storms that cracked us,
Through days we barely understood each other,
Through nights we held on to love like a last breath.
But still…
Still my heart beats your name like a drum in a quiet village night.

I remember where we started
Under that old goal post behind the market,
Where the wind smelled like fresh soil
And your laughter carried across the field like a song the ancestors blessed.
You were tying a chitenge around your waist with bright pink socks,
Pretending not to notice me watching you,
But your smile betrayed you
Eh, that smile, it hooked my soul like a fisherman's line.

We were just two ambitious kids,
Dreaming big dreams under small roofs,
Talking about life as if we controlled the sun.

You told me you wanted to work,
To build something with your own hands,
And I said, "Go. Go, my love.
I will meet you on the road God clears for us."
Now years later, here we are
You in your workplace, chasing purpose,
Me in mine, chasing the future we prayed for.

Two hearts far apart,
But still tied together by the memory of red soil and quiet sunsets.
And I won't lie
Distance is a jealous thing.

Sometimes it whispers, sometimes it bites,
Sometimes it makes me hold my chest and breathe slow
Because loving you from far away
Feels like carrying fire with bare hands.
But listen…
Listen to me like you did that first night
When the moon hid behind clouds
And I told you I loved you with a trembling voice.

My woman,
My heart,
My constant prayer
I am coming back.
I am returning to you.
These hands, tired as they are,
Are still yours.
This voice, cracked as it sounds,
Still calls your name in the dark.
These five years
Even with every argument, every silence, every tear
Have only made me sure of one thing:
I love you.
And I only wish…
I only hope…
I only beg
Wait for me.

Wait like the village waits for rain,
Like the moon waits for night,
Like the heart waits for peace.
Because when all this work is done
When the dust settles
When the world finally gives us space
I will come back to the old goal post
I will come back to your smile.
I will come back to the girl I met in that quiet ground
And the woman I am still choosing
Five years later.
My love…
Please.
Wait for me.