A love letter that became a lamentation. A lamentation that became a prayer.
Listen! This is not a small love! This is Basalirwa's heart speaking to Yintana, a man who has left childish love behind!
He says to her:
Yintana, when you leave me to myself, you leave the door open for temptations I never invited!
Talk to me! I am not a child! I know every heart carries private troubles! Don't keep silent like someone frightened by a rumour, afraid to say what is really on their mind!
Do you know what I am? When I travel all those long distances from Katooke Kiterede to Kyotera just to see you, I am like a hunter who has wandered far in the bush, searching for the one thing he cannot afford to lose! That thing is you!
I have heard whispers! Whispers that your heart is finding delight in someone else! But I refuse to dwell on gossip because it is gossip, that idle enemy that stalks lovers in shadows and tears them apart!
My love has never strayed! I love you and you alone! I have no other heart to consult! No other door to knock! My choice is YOU! Yintana! You alone!
So let us not blame Satan for troubles of lovers! No one is dragged away against their will! When all is said and done, whose decision is it? The final choice belongs to YOU!
And that is the tragedy of this world: restless hearts passing from one relationship to another, hoping the next one will finally work! But that kind of love has failed us all! Its secret is beyond us! God alone knows!
That is why trust becomes difficult! Love itself can wear a deceptive face! So I beg you, let us remain faithful to each other! Let us put an end to whatever confuses our hearts!
On my part, I have made a promise! We shall do everything within our power to keep away whatever might come between us and our shrine!
And as we pray for God to be our helper, may He take us by the hand, both you and me, and show us the way!
Yintana, do not take too long to come and see me! Your absence leaves a silence inside me I cannot explain! I feel terribly alone! Keep that in your heart!
I left childish love when I grew up! I don't want to spend the rest of my years endlessly explaining myself! Deceit may have tried to drive truth from my heart, but truth does not change because someone refuses to believe it!
You! You chased away my doubts! So don't mistake me for those wanderers who walk through life without knowing where they are going!
I am not hiding you! I want to go before my elders! I want to stand before them in Kifuuta and say, "This is the woman I love with all my heart!" I want us to become one!
Yes, I am older than you! But you are my happiness! You are precious like a sword that cuts the tongue! Let us counsel each other! When one takes a wrong step, let the other guide him back!
Even in my dreams, you occupy my thoughts! When I speak to you, do not leave me waiting for an answer!
Give me a little time! Let us walk this road together until I find words worthy of the happiness you have brought into my life!
Forgive me for speaking about scars of my past! There were people I visited, people I thought I knew! Time passed before I understood who they really were! Their boasting painted one picture, while they themselves revealed another! And when the person I trust keeps me waiting too long, the heart begins to paint its own pictures!
I don't want to smother you with questions! I fear I am becoming a burden! But you leave me carrying a heart heavy with uncertainty! I, Basalirwa, think about it so much that even my body begins to suffer!
Yintana, if you leave me, where will I hide my face? Those who laughed at me, who warned me that this day might come, what will I tell them? Do you remember Moroto? When Bokora and Matheniko fought because of us? People saw me proudly walking beside you, showing the world the woman I love! If you leave, they will ask questions! And I will have no easy answers!
Failure in love does not fall lightly on those who have loved openly!
My love, have mercy on me, Yintana!
I feel like a hungry lion that has just escaped from the cage! If you leave me now, you will have done me a great injustice!
You are free-spirited and quiet by nature! Sometimes I provoke you simply to see you react! And afterwards, I feel ashamed because I search and search and cannot find a fault in you to hold against you!
You drove doubts from my heart!
Now, whenever you are away, even for a moment, loneliness closes in again!
So please, do not take too long to come and see me in Kyotera!
Talk to me, Yintana, even when you are far away! Let me hear your voice! Let me feel your presence! So that I never have to walk through life as though you are no longer in Katooke Kiterede!
The Oracle says, as you pray for God to be your helper, may He take good care by taking both your hands and show you the way through our gods!
Kifuuta Oracle asks again: WHOSE DECISION IS IT?
It is yours, Yintana!
