LAMENTATION OF A SAGE IN SEARCH OF LOVE

The memories of the high-school scar is fresh, 

When I was a toy tossed among babies

and left on the floor to be flogged by fire and water.

My case was worse, my heart was pierced with hot iron

 ^{and people watched in ridicule and point}

^{the unwanted finger at me from the market square.}

The whole world was against me!

Not a single person was willing to

lend me a shoulder to lean on,

Not a single soul weaved the mat of pity

for me to sit on and lick my wounds.

Not a single soul checked the soul of my sole to

^{see how deep I was stabbed,}

^{instead they all passed by and laughed at me.}

The dawn soon came and I crossed to the city, 

Many women for me to choose;

^{they are many and in colours,}

many men makes multiple choices,

But I needed no multiple choice;

 ^{I wanted just one woman}

^{who could take care of my broken soul,}

^{keep him safe and return it to me}

^{when I become a man in this rusty city.}

Women here are winds,

those that only the fortunate enjoys.

They blow in the direction of those who have more,

But there I am, poor and crude, such women are not for me.

The fresh memories of my stabbed resurrects the pain, 

Thus with a weak and wounded heart, I was no woman's choice.

I was alone; life pushed me to the extreme edge.

^{The best love stories are shown on the screens,}

the lucky boys replicate them, leaving me a jealous heart.

All I wanted was love,

^{but not even lust came my way,}

^{I was lost; without love,}

^{I was lost, never to be found.}

^{Adaeze was my first try in the city,}

but for four years I couldn't fit into her circle,

Osita came around and left before the man in me was wise.

Omobolaji showed me so much love,

^{she created memories that were hard to forget,}

 ^{but she went away with those memories,}

^{she left without cause,}

 ^{cursing and regretting,}

 she hated me as much as she loved me.

Then my journey continues.

My futile search for love continues.

^{More women came and left before I could say a word,}

^{it seemed to me I was cursed never to be loved,}

^{but I am a warrior, I fight with my heart,}

^{never to accept such fate;}

 ^{I keep the faith.}

Chi said I am not rich, that she can't date a poor man, 

Shirley, the Kenyan had trust issues,

^{life has taught her to protect her heart}

^{and that of her daughter, she did,}

 thus left me to go on in search.

Victoria was a Caribbean,

^{we fought, talked and departed,}

^{her father said I am a thief,}

^{that my brothers are scavengers in their country,}

^{stealing people's hearts.}

^{Then came Oyin,}

^{hundred years to make her mine,}

^{but she left after just a day,}

^{she said I didn't create enough time for her,}

 ^{but the time is not always here,}

 ^{they are with those who sit at the brighter side of life and forget.}

^{Ruka came next,}

^{she has the heart of gold;}

 ^{the only woman that made me dream marriage,}

 ^{but again, she was not sure,}

^{she wasn't sure she wanted me,}

^{she couldn't accept she love me,}

^{she was just not sure and thus,}

^{my search continues.}

Alas!

My faith turns fate,

then I found her, who before me always slouch,

I mean her, whose presence was my inspiration,

That girl that lives opposite,

whose completion reveals the beauty of Africa,

Whose teeth reveals the mind of God and smile

^{tells the tale of the son of man when he fed five thousand.}

^{She was a woman at an age}

when her parents wouldn't let her have her wish, 

She was a woman who couldn't decide she wanted me, 

She was a woman who loves someone else and not me.

^{I was the man; that man who wouldn't respect his old age,}

^{I was that being whose life has been without love,}

despite I have given more love,

I am the son of man whose beautiful brain

^{could not earn the love of the woman of choice.}

If this continues, then I will go on in my futile journey,

searching for love in this forest men call life

 ^{and whatever happens to me,}

^{I will say my stories with sighs and}

write them on these trees for those who come after me.

Let no one cut down these trees,

^{for on them are messages}

^{to be passed down across generations.}

Written by Soul'e Rhymez

©2017