The Fifth Day of Christmas, Five Golden rings

On the fifth day of Christmas

my true love sent to me:

5 Golden Rings

4 Calling Birds

3 French Hens

2 Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

You did not know love till you knew him. When you first tasted love, it was with him. He brought love. Carried it inside him. Love was him. He was love. His love was true. He was your true love.

E'de dgebe uwem, edu

(You hide life to live it)

But this love was not to be hidden. It was bright red, and the orange of a burning sunset. The yellow of a wild flower, and a green that tastes like bliss. It was a blameless blue, and a soothing indigo. His love was an undiluted violet.

When he first came to you, you were shallow. Bare. Your eyes were empty, like no one was at home. His love changed you, the way opening up a window changes a dark room. There was a paucity of love, and he covered it all.

His love was tangible. You allowed it fleece you. When he showered you in unending promises, he sealed it with more than a kiss. He gave you the first ring. A token of his love. A testament to his promises. A confirmation of all that had come before. Let there be, and then there was. Let there be light. Let there be love. Let there be earth, let there be you.

When he came before you, it was to make all things right for you. The darkness was absolute. Formless. Void. But his love was as sure as sunrise and when he brings you into perfection your voice is moist and filled with laughter that spills out.

You first tasted love, when you saw him. Because in him, you saw you. You are his reflection. His likeness, his kind. You looked at him, and knew that this was the manifestation of unfettered love. To be moulded in perfection. A spitting image. He was you, he was inside you. Peak perfection. Bliss. Eden.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

What is the curse of our mortality if not our ability to feel? What is proof of love, if not unabating forgiveness?

In your very short life, you have wandered a lot. You have walked out of his love, a straying lover. Fallen into the arms of another. Each time his love seeks you out, and brings you back. Unwavering. When you walk the crevices of the earth, doubt and confusion swelling in your mind, he sees, he knows.

When you dance to the tune of foreign lovers, and warm the beds of strange flings, limbs entangled- he sees, he knows.

And when you tire of strangers, and look up to the sky, his love shines still. It is bright red, and the orange of a burning sunset. The yellow of a wild flower, and a green that tastes like bliss. It is a blameless blue, and a soothing indigo. His love is an undiluted violet.

His love will wash over you. It is a flowing spring gushing steady. It will cleanse. When you stand at the altar to renew your vows, his promises are the same, unchanging. His love, an enigma.

I will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from you.

Still, you philander. He beckons. He calls you by the name he has given you. And when his tongue shapes your name, the way only a lover’s tongue can, you are reminded of the first time you tasted love. Redemption will come for you.

He is your source. For it is in him, that you are. Because he is, you are.

Ndiọọñ edịm akpeyem uwem afeghe akedʌk inyañ 

(Flowing water that seeks life, flows into the river)

On the 5th day of Christmas, your true love will give you 5 golden rings. The inception of his love, a confirmation, redemption, sanctification, and a binding oath of fidelity. Wear them all.

Note: In case you missed it, the five golden rings are the first five books of the Bible also called the Pentateuch.

Merry Christmas to you from Ibi 🎄🎄🎄