10 YEARS AGO
“All of life is lived on levels and arrived at in stages” – Ed. Cole
10 years ago, I was a young boy adapting to life in secondary school.
I was a young boy with no friend, and no foe.
I clutched my bag and food basket as if my very survival depended on it.
Today however, I am a young man on the brink of adulthood.
10 years ago, I couldn’t look a girl in the eye, talk less of sit by her side.
My religious parents had taught me that to do so would make her pregnant.
And so when the time to choose my friends came, I chose boys only as my friends.
Today however, I have come to realise that boy or girl, we are all human beings.
10 years ago, I was a boy who had chosen so many friends,
We promised one another that we’ll always be there,
We promised to be one another’s best man at our weddings.
Today however, the wind of life has taken us to different places and some by the wayside have fallen.
10 years ago, I was a boy who didn’t think of money, or the absence of it.
My only concern was that my food should never be late.
It never occured to me to ask how my school fee was paid, how we got our food or where my transport fare came from.
Today however, I am a young man who has tasted what it means to earn money and how hard it can be.
10 years ago, I was a young boy who obeyed every instruction given at home.
I gladly carried my Bible and notebook and sang merrily on my way to church.
Everyone thought that another pastor was emerging.
Today however, I have become the black sheep, because I have chosen a path different from my family’s.
A poem for my birthday.
Ogunjim James Taiwo @hullerj
