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The Bible identifies faith, hope, and love as the three enduring virtues, with love being the greatest. The primary verse for this is 1 Corinthians 13:13″
Today, as I have for the better part of over twenty-five years, I rise and pay tribute to Lebo — the compass of my heart, the quiet architect of my joy and the one I loved fiercely. To have shared love and life with you was not merely a privilege; it was an honour of the highest order. Ours was a pilgrimage marked by exceptional love, friendship, unfeigned affection, mutual reverence, and a tenderness that softened even the harshest days.
Never, in a thousand lifetimes, did I envisage that you would depart the world of the living so soon, leaving me ensnared in the bittersweet paradox of an unforgiving world — one that is at once too empty without you, and too full of your memory. Yet I am consoled, profoundly so, that you are at rest. You endured pain with a grace that shamed suffering itself, and I, in my imperfect devotion, sought to halve that pain and bear it with you. With each measure of relief I could offer, my hope swelled: that you and I would yet again welcome the coming winter, entwined beneath blankets, surrendering to laughter as our favourite comedies played on.
Now that you are gone, I confess I am uncertain whether I retain the appetite for the rituals that once defined us. The seasons will turn, but the winter will be colder without you.
How I shall cherish the memory of us — two souls shuttling between Lagos and Pretoria, turning terminals and tarmacs into theatres of companionship. We made a sacrament of transit. On air, thirty thousand feet above the continent that birthed us, we spoke of dreams in hushed tones while the clouds kept our confidences. On land, from the avenues of Pretoria to the pulsating heart of Lagos, we wove friendship into the fabric of foreign streets until every mile felt like home. You transformed layovers into liturgies and long-haul flights into lingering conversations. Distance was never absent when you were beside me.
You were my interlocutor, my confidante, my co-conspirator in joy. You taught me that love is not a noun but a verb — an active, daily choosing. You edited my despair as gently as you once edited my prose.
Lebo, I shall forever enshrine the moments we husbanded together: the stolen glances across departure lounges, the quiet prayers before takeoff, the shared silence that said more than eloquence ever could. You were my home in every city, my constant in every time zone.
Go now, my beloved, into the light that has no dusk. The turbulence is over. The seatbelt sign is off. You have arrived.
I remain, here, your grateful passenger — bereft, yet immeasurably blessed to have journeyed with you. Until eternity grants us a reunion, I shall keep our aisle seat warm in memory.
May you rest in peace, my friend of all seasons, with winter being the best amongst the rest.
