Happy birthday Chuka.
I remember your last birthday, I remember you gave me two bottles of wine to celebrate. My brother, my soul brother, my childhood friend. I remember when we were little, we would go catching grasshoppers and glow worms. We would feed the rabbits, we would suck necter from flowers, you would carry my school bag on the way home from school, you would defend me against school bullies. There are stories only you and I know, Songs only you and I know. If you were here, I would call you today and sing happy birthday. I would tell you about Amour, how she wouldn't sleep in her room, how she laughs at everything and farts like her daddy. I would tell you about the land of the midnight sun, we would laugh so much. Chuka Chuka my brother Chuka. If you were in Canada you would not have died, there are doctors here, they never go AWOL, day and night they are here, ready, happy, eager to help. My soul weeps for people like you who die of neglect in Nigerian hospitals. If you had been a politician's son, the doctors would have trooped to your bedside.
Happy birthday soul brother, Nwannem Chuka.
I will see you live
Just as I watched you die