No More Love Poem by Mulunda Silingi Phelix Nasiombe

My gentle one, our love is gone
It is gone forever, never to resurface
Like the death of your father or that of my mother
Our love is no more, no more for you and I
My love is just mine, not for you again
I got tired, tired about you and your affairs

My gentle one, I do remember of our love
It was stronger than the palm fruit which they break with a stone
Our love was firm than the papyrus reed in Lake Victoria
It was the solid foundation of our family
Which we embraced and fondled like the catholic rosary
But is no more
my love is just mine, not for you

My gentle one, you recited our love like the rosary
You ensured the beads of our love are neat and intact
You touched and fondled them with eyes open at noon
And at night you fondled them with eyes closed
Either way, my gentle one, you recited our love
But that love is no more
My love is just mine, and not for you

My gentle one, you know it well, The crucifixion of our love
You want to put it on Nelly, my good friend
Yet you know it well, that your mother's hands are in it
That your stubborn mother wanted her space in her son's life or her son's heart
That she cannot let her son stay with a stranger or pour out his love to an alien
A stranger who has no family background
That I am a tree without roots
And that you cannot water such a tree, for what? Let it go
my love is just mine, not for you again

My gentle one, let the love go, allow your mom to enjoy
Don't you remember how she called me names
She said HIV/AIDS runs in our family
And that it was just a matter of time, for it to catch up with me
That she was not ready for her son to die prematurely
What did you do? Nothing but entertained her useless talk
My love is just mine, not for you

My gentle one, don't you remember the other abuse?
Your mother hurled; look at this corpse!
What is this corpse doing in my son's house?
Can't it find another place for its burial!
My mistake, was to have tiny body!
I never knew such was my mistake!
My tiny body that resembles God never left your mother's lips
I suspect she even had premonitions over my tiny body which you had loved at least at that time
What did you do in the face of my insults?
My love is just mine, not for you

My gentle one, that dress you bought for me
It is appreciated, but it will not survive your mother's hatred
She will either throw it onto a heap of fire or use it as a rag
Or use it as a carpet in the pigsty
What will you do? To buy a new one, again?
You know well that you can't do that
Your mother will not take it, she will slap you before our children
I can't forget that morning when she slapped you for not sending me away.
I sometimes laugh at its remembrance
My gentle one, my love is just mine, not for you

My gentle one, I think your mother has a degree in vulgar language
At least a Bachelor of Arts in Obnoxiousness
Because how could your mother liken the death of our love to that of Goliath?
And to the sickness of Naaman and to leprosy?
And that our marriage was only ordained by satan
And that God was not part of it!
Don't you see sense in my leaving?
Don't you see sense in my own love?
Don't you see sense in the reprieve I have now?
And the freedom I am enjoying without your mother's noise?
Don't you see sense in my new happiness
Don't you see sense in my newness?
If you see me today, you will be shocked
Your mother too will be shocked
My body is back, its carvaceousnes is back
Every man throws eyes at me whenever I pass
Some of them stick their eyes on me until I negotiate a corner and disappear.

My gentle one, your mother's words had eaten me up
Her insults had dried me up, I came to agree with her
That my fleshless bones had no soup
And that her son was long tired of the night frictions
My gentle one, I agreed with her talks
That I was punishing your erections with dryness
Don't you recall when we were yet to beget a baby
She accused me of barrenes
And that my work was nothing but filling up the latrine with my bowels!
But after getting one and two and three
She morphed me into emptiness and dryness
That your mother, I will live to remember her
That is why I had no choice but to leave
My love is just mine, not for you

My gentle one, you used to sing our love
You would wake up and thank God for our marriage
Not untill your mother came back from wherever
You forgot about your marriage prayer
Your mother became your prayer partner and not me
You even forgot about teaching the children how to pray
Don't you remember Toto asking you to say a prayer for her?
So and so, don't blame it on my friend Nelly

My gentle one, our love is gone forever
Our marriage is dead forever, maybe it can only be revived by the death of another
Maybe I can come back if your mother dies earlier than me!
Her death will mean the resurrection of our love
It will bring back the happy days
It will revive our marriage and family
But I wish her long life, she is your mother
Keep on loving her, you can never replace her with any other
My gentle one, take care of our children, try to be their mother too
And tell your mother that she had killed me from within
Tell her that my body is back
Tell her that someone else might soon come for my love
Tell that my mother never died of any diseases she mentioned
Tell her that a road accident took away my loving mother
And ask her never to mention the bad things to our children; her own grand children
Bye my love, bye my gentle
For now, at least at this time, let me have fun and love for myself.