Sometimes in August

Twas some times in August 
When we met, over three decades ago 
I was just a faceless tiny red thing, yelling my way into the world
Clinching something in my hands 
And you were just beginning life, on the cusps of your forties
Then sometimes in August, nine years ago 
You boarded that bus into the land of no return 

Sometimes, I miss you sometimes 
Especially when an old songs wafts through the radio
And drives me back to eighties when I was still a little boy
When you would unwrap your LP in the sitting room
There, when we used to live at Government Quarters, Mbotela
And you would slide those ‘plates’ on the LP
And Franco and Ongaro would fill our house with life
My brothers and I would sit there and watch you nod
Just sit there and watch, afraid to dance but loving it
Because it was Christmas
Because this was rare

Yesterday I heard one of those songs
And like a bridge it took me back to you
And I missed you
Yet you’re so far away
On that other side of life
Away, oceans away

You were here with us once
And it seemed it would last forever
It seemed too early to say ‘I love you’
The words wouldn't come even in our happiest of times
Then destiny began to snatch you away
And we could do nothing but just watch you go away
Sometimes I feel it was a lost chance
But I know you understand that I cared

Our years apart have been full of silence
And memories that I cannot rearrange
Your silence in life taught me that not everything is worth saying
Your silence in death teaches me that every moment is worth everything
That today I should live it to the full
So tomorrow there won’t be no space left for small sorrows