For you, Lily!

A gem is taken, how can it be?
How dare the world go on
as if nothing has shattered?
The sun still rises —
oblivious to all that’s been lost.
Do they not see
a light has gone out in our generation?

Lily, my sweet cousin, my sister,
you were woven into the fabric of my childhood —
bound by friendship that run deep,
laughter that found us even in the hard times.
We’d look back on those days
and marvel at how far we’d come,
how grace carried us through storms.

You were the best of us, Lily.

You held softness like breath,
kindness like a second skin.
You never raised your voice,
wouldn’t hurt a fly,
and carried everyone else’s burdens
without complaint, or judgement,
as though your heart was made to shelter the world.

You loved Jesus with a fierce, quiet fire.
Not performative. Not loud.
Just deep, real, unshakable.
I’ve known many people,
but few I would call righteous—
you were one of them.
You loved without limits,
cared without keeping score,
gave of yourself and asked for nothing.

You were the Proverbs 31 woman—
for your children, for your home.
Clothed in dignity, love on your tongue,
your life was a sermon they watched daily.
You rose early, gave endlessly,
and your children called you blessed.

And now you leave behind a husband,
beautiful children—
too young to lose their mother,
too young to understand
why love sometimes gets taken too soon. Oh heaven’s gain!
We weren’t ready Lily, we never would be.

Say hi to your aunt—my mom—for me.
What an incredible reunion that must be!
Tell her I miss her every single day.
And tell Papa, Manyike and Nkeke.
Tell them grief still lingers like smoke here.

How I wish this were like Tabitha’s story—
where the widows wept with such aching love,
that life was summoned back from death.

I am weeping.
My soul is heavy.
I have more to say—so much more.
Too much silence between us now,
too much unsaid.

The righteous has left us,
and the earth should tremble in mourning.
I will carry you—
your memory etched in every heartbeat,
until we see each other again,
where no goodbye will ever be needed.

“Well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
(Matthew 25:23)