I beg you

I Beg You

While in senior high school I discovered this poem that I loved on sight since. It gives me great pleasure to read it and I never tire of reading it. So much so that I could recite it off-head within a week. A few of my friends thought I wrote it myself (because I’m that good) and I never really bothered to correct them. I don't think I lied; whenever they asked if that was my own I just smiled and they concluded. Maybe I misled them.Sorry about that. For the purposes of plagiarism and intellectual theft though, I can’t lie here. So this poem is by Laban Erapu and it was published in “Poems from East Africa”, an anthology of poems edited by David Rubadiri. I thought I should share it with you. It is called ‘I Beg You’ and here goes.

‘I beg you,

If you feel something like love for me,

Not to let me know it now

When I feel nothing so certain for you.

Wait until you’ve conquered my pride

 By pretending not to care for me.

I beg you,

If you know your eyes will betray you,

Not to give me that longing look

When you know it will force the moment

Wait until our heartbeats have settled

Then put your head on my shoulder.

I beg you,

Let us not surrender to passion

Until our liking has grown to love

Let’s stop and look back

Let’s stand apart and sigh,

Let’s stand back to back,

Let’s say goodbye for the day

Let’s walk our different ways

Without pausing to wait

For an echo to our last word

I beg you

If you find yourself interlocked in my embrace

To kiss me and keep me silent before I start making promises

That time may choose to by-pass -

Wait until our hands are free,

Then listen to me;

Wait until our love is primed

Then give me your hand.’

I hope you love this as much as I do on sight (or on skim since it has to do with reading).  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I do. This is a very realistic poem. It is what the person next to you thinks and may not be able to say.That’s why I’m sharing it. But hey, if you saw it here first then I get a mention too, right? 

Maybe you can find yourself in here too.  And appreciate the beauty of this poem. Got to say one thing though; this guy is not unromantic.