Walk With Me Poem by Warrith Olawale

We might fall in love.
It might be sudden, it might take a very long time.
I do not know anything for certain,
But if we should find ourselves on this Y junction,
With just one road ahead of us,
We would walk it, and as we do so,
Here’s one thing I’m sure of –
The road will be rough and tiring.
There’ll be no trees with ripe fruits in sight.
There’ll be no shelter from the scorching sun.
I don’t know how long the road is or where it leads,
But I know that it’s a very lonely road.
And as we make a manoeuvre between the thorns
That lie on the ground, we would walk alone.
There’ll be so much noise.
Deafening noise from the world
From your family, from mine; from people we don’t know
And a turbulent noise from deep within us
That equilibrates with that outside,
Such that I might not hear you when you call.
But remember, it’s still a lonely road
That we would keep on walking together. Alone.

We might have our children.
They might have your eyes, your glistening morning smile.
But then they would grow and leave us,
In search of their Y junctions and roads.
Again, alone on this road we would go, we would grow
As time burns the candle with each footstep
You might’ve to live through the ordeal of my changing face
As wrinkles and pustules finally come to stay.
And I’ll only be able to watch as life blows it powdery chalk
On your once glowing hair and dark spots taint your face.
Then all of a sudden, this road will become filled
With beautiful people walking by.
People who were never here before,
Or maybe they've been here all along
Maybe it was I who didn’t notice them.
Passers-by become so much that you finally become
Just another person in the crowd.
Then we’ll die, maybe you first, maybe me.
But I guess not together, and on this road
Will walk people with no memories of us.
Such ill fate is not so pleasing, I know,
And I wish I had a better offer, for you deserve better
But that’s the best I could come up with.
So, meet me on this Y junction, Marry me.
Walk this road with me.
For whether suddenly or gradually,
We can
Fall in love.