WALK WITH ME

It was a sunny day that day. The clouds were hanging high up in the sky and the sun’s rays passed aesthetically between their fluffy form. I have seen beautiful days before but none could compare to that day. It was the kind of day that begged you to be outside, it called on you relentlessly to go out and see her for she was too beautiful to not be seen, too beautiful to go unnoticed.

Her whining cries got to me and I found myself craving to be out there. I wanted to see what she had to offer, what the fuss was all about and most importantly I wanted to be soaked in all her beautiful glory, to be completely submerged in her delight and to bask in the freedom she was seducing me with. So I got ready to leave the house that had already started feeling like a prison of sorts and before I knew it I had made my way to Nairobi Animal Orphanage along Langata Road because that is where we had agreed to meet.

I wanted to put to bed your continuous complaints. Those questions that had been flooding your mind for days on end, I wanted to address them that hot sunny day. “Who are you, where are you from, why do you write etc.” In your sea of questions you never bothered to ask me why I chose Nairobi Animal Orphanage for our rendezvous “Because the entrance is only 200 shillings and it’s easily accessible from the CBD” I said hazily, not paying attention to your lack of interest.

You turned and faced me with a strange look written all over your face. A look I had never seen before. It was almost like you weren’t looking at me but through me, like you wanted to see what lies beneath the beautiful ebony face before you.“Who are you?” You asked once more as we made our way into the orphanage.

I smiled sheepishly to myself because for the first time in all my years on this earth I knew exactly how to respond to that question. Had you asked me that same question last year or the years before that, I wouldn’t know what to say but now that I had found me, now that I had taken the time to know me I had all the answers in store for you. I read somewhere once that before you tell people who you are you must first tell yourself who you are and that’s something I had done over and over so this question no longer scared me like I bet you thought it would😂.

“My name is (error 404)” I replied kiddingly owing to the fact that our names are just labels attached to us. Labels we are given when we are kids by our parents and that we use to identify ourselves but it isn’t who we are. It’s just something that belongs to us, same goes for our physical body small wonder we say MY body, MY hands, MY eyes etc.

Before I could get deeper into answering your question you pointed out some lions to me. They had completely stolen your attention away from me and if I’m being honest I kinda liked it. I liked you a little more because you love lions as much as I do, and you shared the same sentiment that wild animals belong in the wild.

We watched them eating and hearing them roar in between devouring their meal made us both tremble with respect. Being in the presence of all that greatness gave us both chills that I find so hard to put in words. I could tell that you were far more interested in the animals than finding out who I really am, but I couldn’t blame you. I mean how could I when I was just as mesmerized as you🤷‍♀️??.

“I write because I love words. I love how good they sound in my head, how jumbled up they are at first in my crazy mind but how smooth and saccharine they become when I organize them. I write because I am in my element when I’m writing, because there is some sort of joy, happiness and contentedness that I can only derive from writing. Some sort of high if you will. I could write for hours if I ever was given the chance.” I replied staring at the animals piercingly.

You never asked me why I did not answer the “Who are you” question. That only proved the point that you weren’t paying that much attention to me. But no worries for I was equally as lost in the days beauty as were you and that question is too complex a question to be answered in the midst of all that distraction. Your mind wasn’t fully on me and I figured if I ever was to tell you who I really am I’d do it when all your attention was on me.

“I just want to read and write and to travel the world until I’ve exhausted all the places and then start all over again older, wiser and with eyes that can see everything I missed the first time.” Was my parting shot incase you forgot or incase you didn’t quiet hear me amid all the chaos, commotion and the awe-inspiring noise that had stolen all your attention from me.

You promised to subscribe to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFgex8oGdtjZMTbTuI1J2og and to listen to Moi, je prouve by Tayc ft Barack Adama. I’ll hold you to that btw

I’m on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/foodie4_tho4/?hl=en