The Masked Poet
Page 22
I am embracing
I am accommodating
I am understanding
I am gentle
I am patient
I am kind hearted
I am not scary
I am not narcissistic
I am not inconsiderate
I am not prejudicial
I am not discriminatory
I am not conditional
I AM LOVE.
I am love
people run to me
people reach for me
people long for me
they don't run away
they don't run away from me
cos I am love.
MP, stop fleeing from me
stop fleeing from love
I will not harm you
I will not hurt you
I will only love you
stop fleeing from me
instead, please run to me
for I am love.
True to her thoughts, she received a notification of a whatsapp reply from him that evening. As soon as she saw it, she abandoned it and quickly dialled his number but he had switched off. Frustrated, she tensely opened the reply and went through his poetic reply:
I am the Masked Poet
I arouse love on earth
in others like an hearth
but then call I an unmasked poet
to write a novel poem
one not from this realm
preferably, a celestial poem
to upturn a thesis
from my heart's axis
that as beautiful as love is
it won't hurt me again like ISIS.
I am afraid to love
for though painless appears love
it can devastate
and my heart, castrate.
She was angered by the contents and her reply reflected her emotion:
There would be no angels
wasting a celestial poem
on a hypocritical mortal
who sways many a client
to rise from love's fall
yet sways his own soul
to surrender to love's fall.
I am one earthly vituperator
sent on errand by heaven
whipping your cowardly conscience
awaking it from slumber too;
for integrity is at stake!
He refused to reply. The next evening, after waiting endlessly for a reply, she typed:
- But MP, where are you? Why are you doing this to me? Is it a crime loving you? Please.........talk to me.
He sent a reply two days later.
- I am on a month's recess. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you; you would have rejected it outrightly. But truly, I need to reflect on a lot of things. I will be back; that's for sure. And I will get in touch once I do so.
She replied:
- Actually I thought you were annoyed at the last poem I sent. But you need a month to think before loving me? Or making up your mind as regards loving me when the love you have for me is clearly written all over you? MP, you are wicked, not just to me, but also to love.
He did not reply. His phone remained switched off.
For once, she sat to ponder on what could really be the problem with the Masked Poet's love attitude. Could it be he is impotent? Because this act of his cannot be just because of a past relationship. That is simple to overcome with a loving beauty like her ready to show him all her love. Additionally, he is a poet, one who should know better about matters of the heart. From experience, it is most likely sexual impotence. Even that is solvable these days, all he has to do is open up. She decided to take the bull by the horn. After two days without a reply to her last message. She typed:
The Masked Poet can save a life
the Masked Poet can save a marriage
the Masked Poet can save a relationship
in consciousness of the divine help
can't he salvage an impotence?
This time, he replied:
- It is not impotence, far from it. I have normal erections every morning so that isn't the problem.
She called him but he refused to pick. She typed:
- Then, what is the problem?
- I am afraid to love. Love may hurt me.
- Truly, love never hurts. Humans may have hurt you but not love. My love won't hurt you, trust me.
- Easier said than done.
- Until you try it, you'll never experience it. Give me a trial.
He switched off. More frustrations for Delight. She despaired, almost beginning to hate her life. Girls not half as beautiful as she is, find love easily and with their very soul mates. Why was hers like this? Could it be the curse of beauty? It was even more annoying she has found a soul mate who made all other men fade into oblivion. She wished she was able to visualize another man other than this unfeeling Masked Poet, but her poor soul, her poor heart would not. She resorted to wishful prayers:
'Oh God, if you love me and hear me, then, save a dying soul. Please bring the Masked Poet from wherever he's absconded, to love me! I am lovesick. Help my soul Lord.'
Unable to reach him nor communicate with him any longer, she went about her business but with great unease of heart. Three days later, he sent a message.
- Sometimes I wonder: why does the beautiful one love a man like me?
She replied:
- I have asked my heart severally but it hasn't yet told me why. I even asked it to love another but it wouldn't. All I know is l love you.
- But I insist you don't know me
- But:
I don't care
who you are
where you're from
what you do
as long as you love me.
Remember the words of this song MP? It applies to my love for you.
- My mother once told me:
Wolves can wear sheep's wool
demons transform as angels
stars burn up, turning dust
feces get wrapped in shiny foils
the sun can be eclipsed
flowers will surely wither
beauty clothes wicked souls
My son,
all that glitter, are not gold.
- And I don't need my mum, nor my dad to tell me cos I know:
Bill Gates owns no private jets
yet can afford ten such jets
he uses his late father's car
yet can gift three to a vicar
the United States has oil reserves
yet buy other nation's reserves
she can trump up an annihilation
but has settled for civilization
yes, all that glitter are not gold
they could be class diamonds......
You glitter, dear Raymond
but you are not gold
you are worth more than gold
you are a class diamond.
- My name is not Raymond.
- Until you tell me, you are Raymond.
- If you say so.
- Sweetheart, when are you coming to me?
- I'm so sorry I can't love....... anyone.......including you.
- Okay! I have had enough of this hesitance of yours. But before I tell you what's on my mind, deduct it from these lines first:
Juliet was comated
Romeo miscalculated
Romeo suicided
Juliet reciprocated
when it ended,
Romeo, Juliet, both died.
Then she typed below it:
'Now, MP or Raymond, I am giving you a week to come out and declare your love for me or I'm committing suicide. And deary, hope you know how cheap that is these days; just a few tablets and I'm gone. You will hear it over the news how I have been either found dead in my abode or rushed to the hospital to no avail. Since you have decided to imprison my heart with your heartlessness and refused me to love another, then it is better l died. But remember, Romeo and Juliet always die together. Should I die because of your emotio
nal numbness, just bear it in mind that one way or the other, you will join me. Your time, and my time, for declaration and death respectively, starts running from now! It's one week remember.'
She switched off her phone angrily.
He was not aware of this so he typed a reply:
If you want a lover
who wouldn't break your heart
anytime, any day, anywhere,
then try lovelessness.
If you want a soulmate
who won't disappoint you
anytime, any day, anywhere,
then try heartlessness.
If you want an affair
that won't make you cry
anytime, any day, anywhere,
then hook indifference.
If you want a friend
who won't abandon you
anytime, any day, anywhere,
then try loneliness.
You see lovelessness?
He won't break your heart.
You see heartlessness?
He won't disappoint you.
You see indifference?
He won't make you cry.
You see loneliness?
He won't abandon you
They are all faithful companions!
He sent it and also switched off his phone.
She saw it later and got infuriated, determined the more she will absolutely commit suicide. The time read six days more............
CHAPTER 23
On the other hand, he set a test for her suicide threat: if she does not communicate with her for up to four days, it means most likely, she is serious with her threat. And so it was that night after night, morning after morning, when he turned on his phone, there were no messages she sent. In the modern day and age, he knew she was serious. Many have taken such threats for granted only to regret later - by then, the loved one has been lost. But it was tough for him. Very tough indeed. This girl does not understand he does not want a heartbreak in the future, he truly does not want this love craze around him. He wants to remain a volitient celibate, but now, to save a soul, he has to renege on that personal vow he has told no one, not even the closest to him - his mother. If it goes bad, he will bear the shame, otherwise, the joy.
On the sixth day, after over sixteen days of a self imposed exile, he showed up first at the Emotional House where he got a debrief of business for the period he was away. That afternoon, Delight was in her office putting up an unsuspecting countenance and attitude but actually looking forward to the next day, the D-day, when she'll make good her threat. She was informed she had a special guest whom she asked to be allowed in.
The Masked Poet walked majestically into her office and stood before her. Surprise took the better of her as she stared on in disbelief. They remained in their positions staring at each other for five long minutes. Then, he broke the long silence:
My love, my sweetness
I found you here
to heed the clarion call
of a very rare love
love that is absolute
love that is unyielding
love that is exclusive
love that I've never seen.
My angel, my cupcakes
I'm here to requite
all the unquantifiable pains
I've caused your love
I was stupid
I was selfish
I was myopic
I was inconsiderate.
So, my honey coated sugar
if I ever caused you a tear,
I pay with my life
if I caused you a trauma,
I pay with my life
if I wrecked your emotions,
I pay with my life.
Have I made you hate love?
Then please kill me!
Have I diminished your joy?
Then please kill me!
Have l stirred any grief?
Then please kill me!
I came with a machete
to put in your palm's grasp
and my head on a slab
to severe from my body
so your wrath be appeased.
Next, he acted it out. He produced a machete from a bag he came with, placed it on her desk, then he moved to where she sat, positioned at her right, bent and placed his head and neck on the desk, turned his face the other way so he won't look at her and said:
'My queen, cut off this useless head! It is good for nothing. Else please forgive me totally........
She was stunned, she was disarmed, she became listless, she was at a loss. She stared at the hairy head of the man on her desk as tears rolled down her cheeks. Yes, it was him! It was the Masked Poet! The only man in the world who can hold her spellbound in all given circumstances with unpredictability. She started sobbing. Soon, she could not hold it in any longer. She cried aloud as she got up from her seat, turned from her left 180° and pulled up the Masked Poet, embracing him as she scolded:
'You fool! You big fool! Who are you? What spellbinding powers do you have over me? Why did you come on a day I was perfecting my hatred for you? And how do you do it? How do you disarm my budding hatred of you with such simplicity? You fool! Most stupid fool! Why did it take you so long? Why didn't you do this all along?.........'
'I'm truly sorry sweetness.' He replied, still in her embrace. 'I lack words to express my remorse. You see, a time comes when poems alone does not do the trick but action. That's why I asked you take my life.'
She didn't say a word again. She was lost in his embrace. Her eyes were closed as she relished the warmth of his body in a bid to make up for all she missed. He too did not disengage her. It was a long embrace by which time, she had stopped crying. It lasted for about ten minutes.
When eventually she disengaged, his hands were still around her as she took hers to her face, held it, and stared.
'I can't believe this: so, finally my day has come?' She told him.
He left an hand around her and used the other to produce an handkerchief from his pocket which he used to wipe her tears. Then he told her:
'If your heart were a bottle
from which exude tears
I lock with a tearful handle
so for unending years
not a drop falls again
as this hanky dries these tearful rain.'
A surge of liveliness swept through her system as he said those lines. This is why she loves him. This guy is a walking machine of poems, saying the right things at the right time!
She reciprocated:
Here is my love
the man my heart beats for
the poet with the magic wand
who disenchants my charm
who penetrates my soul
who blends my emotions
who soothes my nerves
who heightens my ecstasy
who disarms my vile
even on a day of hate.'
'Am I that powerful?' He asked laughing.
'You are superman, my superman.' She answered.
- Hmmnnnn......... I'm flying!
- Ha ha ha ha............. But is it really true I'm in the embrace of the love of my life?
- No where has it been mentioned I am dead, so it's not my ghost; and I've not changed from being the Masked Poet, so you are right in my embrace.
- Oooooooo.............. How good it feels!
She embraced him again, closing her eyes while she enjoyed the feel. She rested there again for some moments.
'We are going to celebrate this aren't we?' He asked her.
- Yes, but how deary?
- I have it all planned out.
- Really? You certainly came prepared! So, what is this plan of yours.
- First, why don't we invite your friends and I'll do the same; so we can tell them we are now a couple?
- Wowww!!............ That's awesome! And grand too!
- Second, why don't we also give them that information at a very special venue?
- A special venue? Which?
- A place called the 'First Date Eatery.'
- Yeaahhhhh............. My love has done it! Oooppsss!!......... Congratulations!.......... When are you opening the place?
- You mean when are we opening it?
- Ooh ooh!! I will get used to it very soon. So darling, when are we opening it?
- Next week. You know, we open it, and then declare our love; we kill two birds with a stone.
- Coooool........... Indeed you have it all planned out!!...........
Later on, she showed him the suicide note she wrote in preparation for the D-day. It read:
I am not a suicide
but a victim of suicide
killed by a suicide bomber
who refused to be a lover.
Albeit this will be a shame
which negates all my fame
yet I can't imagine life
without a love life
with this heartless bomber on earth
whose name is the Masked Poet.
She also showed him the box of poisonous tablets of the drug called.................