What I wanted
tonight was love songs but all I'm getting are Rap rhymes, old school High-life
and too much talk on Radio.
So I am going to
just pretend it's daytime and try to enjoy the High-life...they used to make me
fall asleep those good old days when I was much younger and in primary school.
I remember how I would come back from classes
for the day and get home in the heat of the sun. A heat so scorching sometimes
it almost feels like my skin would melt off. I would walk leisurely even though
I didn’t feel right in my skin. While I walked, I would fantasize about a lot
of things. My visions would gain full reign and slowly, even the sun and its
effect would be inconspicuous in the moment.
My feet would dig into the grasses as I walk. I
reveled in their parting as they gave way to the weight of my stride. While
that felt cool beneath, at times it would no longer be enough for me to just walk
on it with my shoes; at which point I would peel them off and give in to the
temptation to walk bare footed...OH! It felt good to bask in the caresses of
the shrubs on the soles of my feet.
Occasionally it would awaken me to sing and make
beautiful music. Other times i would be lost in reverie just thinking of the
wonders of nature and contemplating in my heart lots of stuffs that only a
young girl can dream up.
Sometimes if I was still close to the school
fields, the flying grasshoppers and the sound of their snapping wings as they
take to flight does manage to catch my attention enough for me to center my
thought on other beauties, rather than the pictures that my mind was readily
creating.
When I was done walking the distance away from
the school fields I would start relishing the scenery of the streets that lead
all the way down to my home.
Under the sun, the streets usually took on a new
life. On occasion it would be calm and quiet and at other times the sheer
loudness of the cars and the people defined the new piece of the art carving on
my mind.
It was not unsightly to see little black
buttocks getting along down the street in awkward steps; and another right
behind. Little boys scuttling around in the sun, laughing with glee in friendly
chase had a way of causing my face to light up in smiles.
Yes, it was a good sight to see...all of that!
And when I got back sometimes, I would meet no
one at home (which today seems funny to me since I have five siblings). My
father's stereo will be blaring at a high pitch, doling out ballads of this
sort that I hear tonight. Beautiful sonorous voices that reached out to my
young heart. Drawing me into mental imageries, that is almost indescribable
with words.
I remember the long wooden bench that stretched
in length on the corridor of my home. They were two of them. And they were in
the original colours of their natural state; Untempered by the spraying of garnish
paints. I would put them together and stretch my little lithe body on them and
allow myself to be drawn into the sweet clouds of my own making, listening to
the tunes that gently patted my mind's head.
Often they were high-life songs from Nigerian
descents; other times it would be soulful rhythms of people from other far away
African countries singing away and enticing you to come away too, to their
distant lands. How I loved it.
Radio had such power at those times and those times
were very often. They knew when to talk and when to keep silent. The songs had
meanings and every anchor had the voice and diction that kept you yearning for
more. I used to look forward to the cool of those times. And tonight I am
reminded of those memories once again. What it used to feel like.
Perhaps I shouldn't consider it...perhaps, the changes
in times are so far apart but I can’t help but wonder: Has Radio changed for
you? ...HAS IT EVEN CHANGED?
So here I am, still wondering.
Quietly, the blues have crept into the
background without my notice. And now it is beginning to suit another part of
me. It is sweet how the voice types merge. The sheer wonders of music,
tempting me to close my eyes, enjoy and doze off. Maybe this is what I need. Come
with me if you can...
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