Valerie

I met a young African girl when I was 20 years old
Her name was Valerie and she was very appealing
I really liked her from the first time I saw her at the youth club,
But I wasn't confident of winning the love of such a fair girl
I’d only spoken to her a few times before I did a strange thing
One night I asked my friend to give Valerie a picture of me
The boy went to her home and gave her the picture
And he told her that I sent it for her
He said that she accepted the picture and she look at it and smiled
I asked him what her response was
The surprising thing was that she didn't say anything to him

A few days later, she stopped me when I was passing her home
And she asked me, “Is this the way you do things?”
I don't remember exactly what I said to her,
But the short conversation we had led nowhere
She didn't give the impression of being interested in me
And I knew that another guy was trying to court her,
So I didn't have a good reason to compete with him for her
From that time onward Valerie and I seldom saw each other
Even though I thought about her a lot,
It didn't take a long time to get over her
I got married to a Christian lady 10 years after these things occurred

20 more years passed and I ran into Valerie at an electronics store
I went there to purchase a preamplifier for my sound system
At first I didn't recognize her because she had grey hair
She was 30 years older and she looked so different
I presumed that she was the supervisor at the electronics store
She said that she had something to say to me while I was waiting
First of all, she asked me, “Do you remember me?”
I took a good look at her face and then I said no,
So she asked me, “Did you live in Whitfield Town many years ago?”
I realised she knew me from somewhere, so I told her yes
Then she added this question, “Do you remember a girl named Valerie?”
I immediately said yes and she responded, “It's me”
Honestly, I still didn't recognize her,
But I remembered the beautiful girl I knew

Valerie said that she saw me in the store with a woman a few months ago
I told her that the woman she saw me with was my wife
Much to my surprise, she said, “I kept your picture over the years”
“I’m not sure if I still have it, I might have recently thrown it away”
I felt good knowing that she kept my picture for so many years
Seeing her brought back memories of the days of our youth,
But my passion for her was a thing of the past
I didn't ask her why she kept my picture for such a long time
She was obviously carrying a torch for me
No woman would keep the picture of a man she doesn't love for 30 years