IKU

I met Taiwo through my cousin Bimpe, they were very close friends. The first thing I noticed about him was that he seemed hard enough to handle  her. Bimpe was no raw meat and she had a hard exterior which too many people were afraid to crack to find the soft gush of love. Maybe that’s what made me like him. I  also found out his twin sister was someone whom we had shared, played and laughed together throughout my first year in the University.  Kenny, Biola and Femi had made my year one bearable. Sometimes, I remember the strong sound of laughter that came from their room and smile.


Taiwo and I worshiped in Daystar, I saw him almost every Sunday. He usually dropped me near my house. The last time I saw him, he was going to see Bimpe and I went with him. Somehow, his car developed a fault and our 10 minute journey was turned to an hour. We ended up parking the car in a nearby parish and took a tricycle to Bimpe's place. Alas! the most wanted Bimpe was not at home, so we talked and ate. We waited all day for Bimpe and then gave up.

Something funny happened that day, my phone got in the hands of my uncle and we began to look for it. When Taiwo used his phone to call my number, my uncle answered and said “Taiwo, this is  Temi's boyfriend”. In shock he dropped the phone, looked puzzled and asked ‘Temi's boyfriend? How did he get your phone? We used it some hours earlier to call Bimpe’. That day he also kept telling me how urgently he wanted to meet Bimpe’s fiancé. I dare not say that he knew something might happen.


When I saw Taiwo that day, I never knew it will be the last time; when he laughed about my uncles joke, It never occurred to me that it was the last laughter or smile we would share. His demise makes me wonder how small and fast life is. I am confused. I have had the resolve to shout at him to stand up and not just lie there lifeless. I heard of a colleague’s burial some days ago, I didn’t know his will be the next.

Taiwo had dreams of being a pilot; he had hopes of a future that I find hard to believe have vanished into thin air. I somehow always thought we would see in the future and I will be proud of his accomplishments and he would be of mine. I somehow thought that his future success will swallow all past struggles. I don’t know why this loss feels so deep. I guess it’s because I had so much hopes in him and for him, maybe it’s because he still called me last week and we went home together two weeks ago or maybe because I got used to seeing his face that the thought of not seeing him creates a vacuum. As I write I am listening to a song by Donnie Mccaulkin “I Am”. I put it on repeat because I can’t seem to stop the tears and it just assures me that ‘the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who doesn’t sleep or slumber, will welcome him into his bosom. That thought gives me a certain calm.


I feel that Taiwo lived an unfinished life, he had so much ahead of him, so young, so full of energy. I realize again that our lives are for rent and someday the owner will want his property back.


Everything that begins ends. Sometimes, it seems too early to end and other times we are glad to stop writing on the pages of our lives; at peace to stop the race and cross the finish line. It’s strange but I can’t question the owner of the soul, who gives and takes. Dido’s song plays on my mind ‘life for rent’. Hmmm… Taiwo RIP.