It rained that Sunday afternoon
It rained heavy on my heart
Flooded with confusion
And a lot of questions
That hasn’t been answered
Up till this very day.
I remember I was apt
To notice that December,
Your eyes were yellow
It was not the normal hue
Of an itched eye like we knew
Something was wrong.
Each of our coursemates
Raising up suggestions
Persuading that you visited
The hospital that evening
But you were a bit druggy
About the idea of visiting
We weren’t best of friends
But Dennis, that pale night
As I starred into your eyes
A strange weight of compassion
Came upon my whole being
With most of those who raised
Suggestions now gone,
I wondered what next.
I wasn’t long you began to shiver
You said your were cold
And then hot, and cold again
I was a seventeen year old
Inexperienced young boy
My only expertise was love.
I couldn’t take it anymore
Each shivering jerk triggered
The cores of my soul into turmoil
For a moment I felt a strange aura
Was that you Dennis, was that you?
Quickly I packed few things and
We were on our way to the hospital.
Spare me the details of that night
Spare me Dennis, I am heartbroken
We were thrown out the first hospital
They couldn’t attend to you
Because the only money we had
Was my fare back to Lagos.
If we saw this coming, we may
Never have paid our school fees.
The second hospital admitted you
I couldn’t sleep all through the night
I had no one to call, you had one.
That one that never visited you
Even after I visited him and told him
You needed him to come real quick
He never did. I went back Dennis.
Yes I did but without your consent
I went, a young boy of seventeen
With tears both for you and him.
Tears of pain knowing that
Even in pain, some people
Would rather watch you die
Than lend a helping hand.
People you called your own
People you called family.
Tears of knowing that I would
Never see you again Dennis.
And teart of joy remembering
I shared the last moments of
Your life cracking jokes with you
There on that bed at 140 bedded
I remember you Dennis.
“I was a seventeen year old
Inexperienced young boy
My only expertise was love.”
I dare say that at that age, that most often is the only expertise one’s got!
“With tears both for you and him.” Really, really sad. I do hope it wasn’t a true story!!