Before You Inherit Her Silence

Lay down the burden they handed you.

Shake the dust from your feet.

Do it before another auntie asks,

"So... when will you get married?"

Do it before another elder smiles and says,

"A good woman stays and endures."

Do it before someone reminds you,

"You can never be bigger than a man."

Because every question asked in the name of tradition,

every piece of advice wrapped in obedience,

every warning disguised as wisdom,

teaches another girl

that her dreams must shrink,

that her voice must soften,

that her pain must be carried quietly,

and that love is measured

by how much of herself she is willing to lose.

We honour our mothers.

We honour the women who survived

when surviving was all they were allowed to do.

But love should never demand

that we inherit their silence.

We can honour them

without repeating their suffering.

So today,

lay down the burden.

Walk forward.

Speak louder.

Choose yourself—

so the daughters who come after us

inherit courage

instead of silence.

AND THEN I FELL

He's tall—

 The kind of tall that makes the world feel a little smaller beside him.

 Dark-skinned... my favorite shade of beautiful.

 They say, "The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice."

 Well... he is my sweetest temptation.

 Dark chocolate wrapped in confidence.

His skin is soft,

 The kind you find excuses to touch.

 His smile... innocent enough to fool anyone,

 Yet his eyes always betray him—

 Deep, playful, dangerously sexy.

 And then there's his voice...

 Calm. Deep. Masculine.

 The kind that settles my restless mind before he even finishes a sentence.

But if you ask me what made me stay...

It wasn't his height.

 Or his skin.

 Or even those eyes.

It was him.

The confidence with which he walks into a room.

 The certainty in the way he speaks.

 The softness hidden beneath all that quiet strength.

 His laugh... Lord, that laugh.

 It sneaks up on me every time.

 And that little "Ah..." whenever something catches him off guard—

 I don't think he knows how much I love that sound.

He speaks to me every single day.

When I've had a good day,

 He's the first person I want to tell.

When work has exhausted me,

 When people disappoint me,

 When money becomes another weight on my shoulders...

He listens.

He doesn't rush me.

He lets me empty my heart before he fills it again.

He advises.

 He encourages.

 He reminds me that tomorrow always deserves another chance.

From the day we met until today...

Not a single day has gone by without us chatting or speaking on phone. 

And then...

There is us.

The way he kisses me as though there is nowhere else he'd rather be.

 The way his hands know me without asking.

 The way he takes his time, never rushing the moments that make me forget everything outside the room.

He loves me with patience before he loves me with passion.

He spoils me with pleasure until my body gives in completely.

 He pulls me closer, guides me, turns laughter into desire and desire into memories I replay long after we've said goodbye.

And when it's over...

He doesn't disappear into silence.

He keeps me in his arms.

We lie there talking about everything and nothing—

 Laughing, teasing, whispering little thoughts into the darkness—

 Until one kiss quietly begins the whole story again.

Maybe that's what I fell in love with.

Not just the chemistry.

But the tenderness that always follows it.

It started as a game.

No expectations.

No labels.

No strings attached.

But somewhere between the daily conversations,

 The laughter,

 The comfort,

 The longing,

 The quiet moments after the loud ones...

I lost the ability to pretend.

Somehow...

Without either of us planning it...

I fell completely,

Hopelessly,

Beautifully,

In love with B.

 

And Then There's US

 And then...

There is us.

The way he looks at me before he touches me,

As though he has all the time in the world.

His kisses linger.

His hands are confident,

Patient,

Certain.

He has a way of making me feel desired without saying a word,

Of turning every embrace into a conversation only our bodies understand.

Long after the lights go out,

We remain wrapped in each other,

Talking about everything and nothing,

Laughing between stolen kisses,

Finding reasons to stay awake just a little longer.

It's never just about the passion.

It's the tenderness afterward.

The way he pulls me close,

Runs his fingers through my hair,

Lets silence speak for us.

Those moments—

The quiet ones after our hearts have slowed—

Are the ones that made me realize

I was no longer just enjoying him.

I was falling in love with him.

The unexpected chapter (my favourite)

You came into my life without a warning, On a day that was never meant to change mine. You had come for my friend's introduction, And fate quietly wrote our names on the same line.

Then came Malindi— The ocean whispered, The night was young, And I was lost in a crush I could no longer hide. The laughter was loud, The drinks were stronger, And in one reckless, unforgettable moment, I surrendered to the magic of the night.

When you left, I smiled at the memories, Convinced they would remain just that. I expected nothing more than A beautiful one-night story, A stranger I'd never see again.

But life had other plans.

A message became a conversation. A conversation became a habit. A habit became my favourite part of every day.

Slowly, You became my "good morning," My random afternoon check-in, My "have you eaten?" My "goodnight." You became the person I couldn't wait to hear from, Even if it was only a text or two.

I still remember our first phone call. The silence felt awkward, The words refused to come. Neither of us knew That one call Would become countless conversations That would fill my days with laughter, Comfort, And peace.

With every meeting, The walls around my heart grew weaker. Without asking for permission, You walked in, Made yourself at home, And became my greatest weakness.

I didn't notice the exact moment it happened, But somewhere between The chats, The calls, The stolen moments, And the longing between our goodbyes...

I fell in love.

Now I miss you Long before you've even gone. I count down the days until I can see you again. I replay our memories, Smile at our conversations, And when distance separates us, My heart finds you anyway.

You are the thought that lingers, The smile that appears without reason, The warmth I crave, The embrace I miss.

What began as a stranger, Became my comfort. What began as a moment, Became my forever.

If someone asked me Where love found me, I would simply smile and say—

It found me In the most unexpected place, At the most unexpected time, Wrapped in someone I never planned to keep, But now, Could never imagine losing.

I love you, B. More than yesterday, Less than tomorrow.

THE LAST DROP

 I became fluent in waiting, finding meaning in fragments of time and warmth in borrowed sunsets. I poured gently, faithfully, never asking whether the river flowed both ways, only believing that one day it would.

But even the deepest well has its last drop. And when I looked into my own cup, I found not bitterness, only an aching truth: love should not require one heart to keep emptying itself so another never feels thirst.

.