She Inspired My Best Poem - Maybe

 I've always had a soft spot for my friend, my female friend, Thobeka Sithole. Even as I begin typing this post I can sense a huge cloud of love taking over my heart. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who understands this feeling, a feeling that shouldn't be either hidden or explained, a state of being. That's friendship love according to me.

Thobeka is a young, fairly beautiful and much conservative girl who lives by my place in the neighbourhood. She came into the hood to start and complete her high school education. She was a class behind me and we didn't go to the same high school. Being ahead of her, I went to varsity first.

While I was on my 2nd year at UKZN, she asked if I can help her apply at the university and I had to say yes. This was simply because it comes natural for us varsity students to desire to help the new entrants to varsity that comes after us. I knew helping Thobeka was going to be a pleasant journey, as before this I had never been close to her.

We started off well, as I helped her from identifying the relevant courses and institutions she could possibly pursue, filling in of forms, mailing to Central Applications Office, to awaiting the responses. It all went well. Everything seemed according, until she had to visit home in rural areas, where she stayed a little longer than I expected.

I began to be concerned if she was following through with CAO. On the 31st of December, I had a great concern about the follow ups with CAO and the status of her application that I had to call her around 10 O'clock in the morning. It was a brief call, it was to the point. So she promised to come back to the hood ASAP and deal with the "varsity" issue.

It was just after this call that I caught myself saying "Maybe I'm too serious about this friendship". I immediately sensed weirdness and contrary in this statement. How can I be "too serious" about "this" friendship? On top of being weird, I also noticed this statement was poetic, and so immediately I started scribbling a poem and commenced with exactly the phrase "Maybe I'm too serious about this friendship".

One thing one should note is that all that the poem says after that was not specifically talking about the nature of a friendship I had with Thobeka, and the poem doesn't necessarily speak to her. However, it shouldn't be overlooked that the poem was fully triggered by her. I cannot take away the credit from my friend for inspiring such a wonderful piece of art.

This poem is highly loved and cherished by multitudes, and has installed thousands of smiles to a plentiful guys and girls out there. Never even for a single day have I taken time to alert people about the inspiration behind this poem, so it was of great importance to me that I do this.

I am also thankful to Thobeka Sithole for inspiring such a wonderful poem. I earnestly love her for that and she will always be my friend, if not more. I hope God keep her for longer and make her a great inspiration to the world out there.

Thobeka Sithole. A girl from the neighbourhood who inspired one classical poem I ever wrote. I salute you friend. Uthando novuyo.