Ololufe!

My sister did not always live with us, but I’ve loved her since the first time I set my eyes on her. She did not have to do anything for this to happen, but she participated in this love. So it grew. Each time I saw her, I wanted her to not leave. One day, my wish came true. This story is not about my sister; I hope by the end of it you will realize why it was important that I mentioned her. This would make me feel like a good storyteller at the very least.

I’ve told people a thousand times and more that I don’t do anything without my heart being in it. Maybe that’s why I’m the type to listen to Wande Coal’s Ololufe and deduce that it might be a lullaby. When you listen to the instruments, I mean really listen! You’ll hear the bells chiming as he starts to make his declaration of love. Understanding the song this way tells me that he wanted his love to be safe in conceptualizing the depth of his feelings. Imagine being lulled to sleep in such softness? You’ll dream it, you’ll wake up and it’s still there everyday. Listen and come back to tell me that I might be right.

I think about that song a lot. Mostly about the title. I’ve looked everywhere for the translation of Ololufe but all I’ve found have been loose, lazy and watered down. This has really annoyed me. It’s no secret that English pales in comparison to other languages when it comes to richnes. It’s annoying.

I hung out with a man (friend?) recently. Unfortunately, parts of me that I had tucked in for years began to come undone. Not in a bad way. Imagine you carry a load and place it on your shoulder or your head or wherever…and it’s stable, then as you journey, the wind comes and almost topples you and your load over? If this doesn’t jolt you out of a trance, it would at least pump some life into you. This man was the wind; let’s call him Wind.

There was nothing spectacular about Wind; I mean he was funny, and good- looking but there are at least 10 of him I come across in a month. If you placed his exact features in 100 other people, they wouldn’t even become a speck of dust, talk less of wind. Wind did not actually have to do anything for my load to start shifting position. Whatever he did was just a bonus to the things that were already happening in my mind and chest.

Naturally, this made me spend many nights thinking about Ololufe and Wande Coal. Then I remembered a saying that went, ‘Nitori Ife ni ase sh’eda Ololufe; we created lovers because of love.’ I think in this life we have many Ololufes, platonic and romantic.

I think what Ololufe should translate to is ‘the one who is making use of my love.’ This makes loving a doing word. I will stretch it and make a bold declaration that this is why existing with some people is just easy. Daisy told Divine in Vagabonds! that breathing was all she had to do for her to pick her OVER and OVER again. Do you know how easy breathing can be? Now, do not mistake this for encouraging unrequited love or delusions. It’s very far from it. This story was not about Wind either, in case you were wondering.

I’ve seen a lot of people talk about having so much love within them and not knowing what to do with it. I’m making a hypothesis that our love already came with name tags on them. And the owners of these tags are scattered all over the endless seas of people. I hope we’re lucky enough to meet all our Ololufes, or at least most of them, in this lifetime. I hope when we find them, the universe aligns and we’re loving them with intention. That they’re loving us right back. That each time they untuck whatever we’ve tucked in, it’s to make us feel lighter and safer.

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[Photocredit: FilmAbdi]