Hello lovelies….
I hope you are all well and are doing fine this beautiful Thursday.
Today’s throwback is a bit of a sad one. Ten years ago today, I watched my sister take her last breath and pass on from this world. It still is the most traumatic thing I have ever experienced in my entire life, even worse than having a miscarriage.
My sister Wabiye, was the life of the party. She was bubbly, funny and fun to be with. She was also extremely protective of me as I was her immediate younger sister and she mothered me all the time. We shared so many memories that are too numerous to mention and those beautiful memories are the things I hold on to each day.
In the early years after her passing, I couldn’t stop crying because it was so hard to live without her and I couldn’t get myself to write a poem about her or how I felt no matter how much I tried. But last year, I decided to stop mourning and spend time only remembering her love, her beauty, her generosity, her endless jokes, her compassion and her wisdom and that was the first time I was ever able to put pen to paper and write a poem about her. The poem is titled ‘Remembering You’. (You can read it here – https://rovingbookwormng.com/2020/04/01/word-play-wednesday-remembering-you-a-poem-by-biyai-garricks/).
Yesterday, I wrote a poem of my first vivid memory of her and in my mind, this is where it all started. The love story of Wabiye and I. This is my first draft and I may come back to tweak it a bit but I think I’m good for now.
Sitting on School Steps
I am 4 years old
Sitting on school steps.
It’s past 2pm
And it feels like forever
But one has come to get me.
I will never know who dropped the ball that day
mother or father?
Some things we will never know.
You are 9 years old
On your way home from school
But yet,
As you pass by mine
You stop at the gates
You stick your head in
Scanning around with wide eyes
I have often wondered
If you did this each day
On your way back home from school
Just in case.
Somethings I will never know.
On this day
You will find me
Sitting on school steps
With tears in my eyes
Forgotten by everyone
But you
And for this
I will forever love you
Because on this day
I learned a beautiful thing
That someone will always remember me
That someone will always find me
And that someone is you
Let me begin again.
I am in a strange city
Faraway from home
Working my first job
Homesick
Mostly tired
weary
And teary
Everything is new and everyone seems cruel
I sit alone in my hotel room
While the phone rings
The receptionist tells me
A woman is here to see you
And she says she is your sister
Once again
I am that 4 year old girl
Sitting on school steps
Forgotten by everyone
But you
And for this
I will forever love you!
Again,
I learned a beautiful thing
That someone will always remember me
That someone will always find me
And that someone is you.
– Biyai Garricks
Wabiye Hansbau Opara (1973 – 2011)
Copyright © Biyai Garricks
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