My First Love - Julius Tunde Ige

Nine years passed and I vividly remember how it all began.

**

Few months after Dad passed away, I  was still buried deep in the grief of His death. Tormented in my sleep and became a bully overnight. The calm and loving me turned out to be the feared little boy in the neighborhood. Though I was little- barely ten, I knew what it means to loose a loved one and that emotional pain attached to the visit of death followed me. I made myself a prisoner without prisons, termed my black mind a tinted one since light couldn't pass through. All these went on until one evening, when I heard voices, tiny voices. I tried decoding what they said but ended behaving like a psycopath.

One year after the terrific hit I got from fate, I stumbled upon this work of creation while my heart was roaming, seeking answers to what my innocent head had done. 

"Sorry", I said as I tried walking pass her. Her gentle arm pulled me back. I was scared. Words can't fathom the degree of cold that enveloped my spleen. I was scared because I couldn't beat her; unlike the smaller girls in the neighborhood. Gently I drew myself back and looked into her her eyes. The innocence they bore made my racing heart come to a halt. Then she noticed how helpless and devastated I looked. I was able to read the pity she had for me written in black and white, all over her face.

From then, we became friends.
Years have passed and I  grew to fall in love with this awesome being. She seemed to direct my thoughts to my fingers that made what I thought appear in paper. On one occasion when my anger level threatened to rise above its boundaries, she held me down and asked me to write Dad a letter telling him how much I was hurt in this lonely world. She gave me a million and one reasons to thrive on. She gave me the happiness I missed, opened my eyes to the realities of what life can offer if I took her as a wife.
"I'm still young "I replied to her request feeling naive of what she meant.
"It doesn't matter, you can still take me in and no one will get to know about it" She replied, sounding more convincing this time.

Ever since that moment, I fell for the agreement. I kept her as a secret companion who has paid attention to the multitude of challenges that come and also, has provided solutions to them. The greatest thing this love of my life has helped me do is to free the demons in my head. The tiny voices I hear in the past, and still hear till this moment were freed by this awesome love.

There is much to say, much to write about this being known by everyone but special to me. A being known has Poetry transformed me into this crazy person who is yet to unveil what lies in him.

With Poetry, my journey is yet to begin. The demons in me are yet to be unleashed and the tour of happiness is just yet to kick off.