The Year I Lost My Father

The year I wanted to write my JAMB,

Life suddenly became too hard.

While others prayed for higher scores,

I was learning what heartbreak was for.

I lost my father before my dreams,

And nothing stayed the way it seemed.

The house got quieter day by day,

Like joy itself had walked away.

I still remember trying to read,

For a future I still hoped to reach.

But every page became so blurred,

Because pain was louder than every word.

People said, “Be strong, you’ll survive,”

Not knowing I was barely alive.

Because how do you study for exams,

When grief keeps shaking both your hands?

How do you focus on school and grades,

When the man you love lies in a grave?

How do you answer simple questions,

When your whole world changed in seconds?

I wanted him there on my result day,

Wanted to hear him proudly say,

“My daughter did it, come here let me see,”

But life stole that moment away from me.

Sometimes I still sit and wonder why,

Why good fathers suddenly die.

Why daughters who still need their dad

Are left with memories that only make them sad.

I miss the little things the most,

The presence that once filled our home.

The feeling that no matter what,

My father’s love was enough.

Now I carry pain inside my chest,

A wound that never fully rests.

And though I smile and still move on,

There are days I feel completely gone.

Because losing a father changes you,

It makes your inner child grow too soon.

It teaches strength you never asked for,

And leaves your heart permanently sore.

Still, Daddy, if heaven hears somehow,

I hope you’re really proud right now.

I’m still trying despite the pain,

Still standing after all the rain.

And even though you’re far away,

I carry your name every day.

In every dream I fight to keep,

In every night I silently weep.

I just wish you stayed a little more,

Long enough to watch me soar.

Long enough to 

see your girl become

Everything she said she would.