Oct 23, 20181 min read

Where has my papa gone?

Where's your papa gone?

Little baby bird

Where's your papa gone?

Far far away

Last night I heard my papa singing a song

Woke up this morning and my papa was gone

I woke up with this song in my head and grief in my heart.

This was one of my father's favourite songs to play when I was a kid.

I found my phone and started playing it and as soon as the words came, the tears flowed

and I have to stop as I type through the blurry vision.

After 85 years on earth and a battle with cancer, my father has passed over on his journey to meet his ancestors on 22 October 2018.

He was not always an easy man to love but I loved him.

I loved him.

I was his Ada, his first born child and first daughter. The one he named Nkiruka.

He looked at me and saw great things. He wanted me to achieve great things.

My father was always an active man.

When the illness came along, I worried about him degenerating and becoming bed-bound.

That would have been the worst kind of torture for him.

Now he is free.

Rest in peace, JIG Special.

(Songwriters: Giuseppe Cassia / Harold Stott

Kiru Taye