The Proposal- Poetry

I remember the first time I proposed to a girl
I was only 4years old and I had no ideas what I was doing
But I knew one thing for sure
Since the day she walked into our maths class
Nothing has made sense ever since
Except that my heart beats faster everytime she walks by
And everything seems to slow down when she smiles

I asked my friends and they said I was in love
Mama always says that every man has his missing rib
Maybe that was why my chest hurt so much
She was holding my missing rib
Everything she did was perfect
I was tired of feeling this way
So I went to my friends for help

One of them told me that the dad felt that way about the mum before the got married
In fact he went crazy about her
I didn’t want to go crazy
And I needed a solution
He further explained that the only way out was to marry her

So on a cool Monday morning
After the assembly
I met her by the hallway and because I had seen too many Nollywood movies
I knelt down and asked her to marry me
I didn’t have a ring but as a token of my love I proposed with my lunch food

So there I was, kneeling down in the hallway with my lunchbox as my ring
She smiled like she always does
She always seemed to say all the right words
And have all the right answers
She thought it was sweet
And she said to me
“we are too small to get married”

That said, she turned and left
but just before she entered the classroom
She looked back and said to me.
“Ask me again when we are 18 and I’ll say yes.”