Want to travel the earth and fly to Mars with you,
Want to hold you in my arms and never let go,
Want to be your shield in darkest hours
Let me show you all shades of love

I thought other girls had boys flocking
Everywhere they turned, there was a boy lurking
Of this I could almost swear I was sure
But then I grew and learned it was not so
The other girl down the street was battling drugs…

Do I ask for too much?

All I want is for you to ask how I'm doing,

For you to listen when I answer…

How are you doing?
And the reply comes "I'm fine"
Doesn't really mean I'm okay,
I want you to look deep into my soul and tell me "Baby, it's not okay"
I want you to search my eyes till I can finally let it out.

She wears it first as a daughter

When father refuses to enter the maternal ward

On discovering that his first child is female

When father says a girl’s education is a waste

And contributes zilch to her formal training

Now I wake up to reality because all this happens in my head and it happens a lot. Sometimes, I don't even understand how I like a guy and I start a relationship with him and even date him for two years, but only in my head not in real life, and Mikhail hasn't even told me that he likes me yet o, imagine…

The moon was full and bright. The stars glittered, with the cool night breeze making it a sensational night. Ofe uha and egusi aromas sifted through night. Mkpuluoma was nervous and excited - the long awaited Eke market day was here. Nnedi painted her legs with the popular uli, drawing beautiful patterns on her hands and legs respectively. Papa bought her coral beads. It was the day Iheoma was coming to perform the Igba Nkwu rituals, the pride of every woman.

“Speak up”, she kept screaming but I couldn't. “Speak up”, she screamed again, yet no words came out of my mouth. I was mute - how could I tell her I didn't want to go to college to study medicine, that I wanted to become a youth counsellor? She would kill me. She worked tirelessly day and night for me. How could I break her heart by not doing the one thing she really required of me?

It all started with a slight pain on Wednesday evening just before Bible Study. Unlike you would on a normal day, you took two tablets of Panadol, but it still didn’t get any better. In church, Bro CY kept tapping your shoulder to stand as you sat during the prayers…

At first we thought we found a mole,
Something had given our plan away.
We had a goal in mind to close the hole;
In the heart of these mortal men each day,
With our soft curves and swaying hips,…

You thought only you could do what you thought only you could do.
The arrogance,
You thought only you could do what you thought only you could do the way you could have done it.

Here I am on a plane miles away from home, relocating! What exactly had I thought taking a job that I am not even sure I can keep? Who was I trying to prove something to? Was it myself? Or family? Or Saleem? It'd sure be pleasant to show that good for nothing fool who I turned out to be. I mean I'm no longer the, "I'm sorry" type, whether I had made the mistake or not. I'm more of the "why doth my God try me with imbeciles" type!