An Ode to the Men I’ve Loved-3

To the one who bought a portrait.

They say love is giving, but the first time I ever felt what it meant to be given gifts by a lover was when this man came into my life. he would give and give and it began to scare me at some point. I did not need to ask, I would wake up to credit alerts that I never asked for, and he would say stuff like “you are my girl”

There is a portrait of me hanging in my room, he bought it for me. The day it came all the way from Ghana, I teared up, holding that parcel. It was the first time someone got me something that beautiful.

It is still my most cherished possession.

I look at it and I tell myself that love can be beautiful.

To the one who gave beautiful names

‘Adufe mi’, ‘Awelewa mi’, and a host of other Yoruba names this Yoruba angel gave me at will. Oh, I would smile, and smile. He would say things like ‘God bless the day you came into my life’ and he would mean it.

To the one whose love was pure

Oh his heart, the heart of Adedokun’s offspring was all shades of beautiful and utter purity.

He made the most innocent jokes and laughed at the most mundane things. There was absolutely no evil in his heart.

To the one who was the most grateful

Every gesture of love I made at him was highly appreciated. He said thank you so easily. He made gratitude the big deal that it currently is to me. He was one grateful human

To the one who was my comfort

I could feel him holding my hand in difficult times even when he was miles away from me. I would be sad and message him, and he would say words like “I would pray too, it would be okay”. He would say things like “God will fix it”, then be the one to fix it. He was, is an angel.

To the one who still gives.

Love is giving. I still wake up to random credit alerts, and random airtime recharges. If there was no lockdown during my birthday, I would have seen a gift of love sent down from Ghana. Because that is the way he is.

To the one whose name is Ezekiel.

Thank you for loving me the way you did. I have learned that I am deserving of a good kind of love. The kind that you give.