I sat there, cup in my hands, her pictures in my brain, sobbing, waiting for the rain. She loved the rain, always did, her eyes will brighten with every sound of thunder, at that point whatever you wanted she would provide. We made love a lot of times in the rain, more times than I can count. We would get wet, drenched in a mixture of my seed, her eggs, our sweat, the rain, and the mud; smell of sex only heightened by the mist that surrounded us. I always wondered why we always made such a connection, she said it was our way of re-enacting creation, it never satisfied my curiosity because to re-enact creation to me was having children, and she never did let me fill her wombs with my daughters...no she never did, no explanation offered. I never complained.
Now I'm here, drowning my sorrow with beer that tastes like oil from the palms of Benin because she left me. Yes she did, just when I had informed her of my intention to make her my wife, she left me that very night and never returned. I feel sad, very sad, but I am conflicted in my sadness; I Just think she will return, it's been nineteen weeks now, and every night I sit here waiting for her to return, with my beer that tastes like oil from the palms of Benin, drowning my sorrow till the wind of sleep takes me to the land of many dreams. Every night I hope she returns she doesn't. Sometimes I dream of her, she would stand on the bronze artworks of Ife and look down at me, she would behold my sorrow and laugh at me, it felt a bit strange to me why she would derive joy in making me suffer, searching her eyes for answer as she stands on the bronze artworks of Ife, I see nothing but joy, satisfaction, pleasure at my suffering. It never made sense to me.
I would run into the deserts of Katsina every day, searching for her, she...

did call herself Hikimar, and stated that she was born of the deserts of Katsina, but I never found her. She is now lost to me, but then again, sitting here, narrating my sorrow; I hope she returns, I hope she takes my pain away.
"Who is there?” I asked, footsteps heard from a distance. It's a man, a young man, tall, elegant, ugly, but strong in feature, he seemed to be walking towards me, and then he seemed to just be floating in my direction. His steps were soft, and then sounded like the drums of war. He is dressed in simple attire, the attire of those who live at the confluence of the Niger and Benue, some call them spirit people, but they are humans indeed, men who have found a way to live in the confluence of the Niger and Benue. This young man did not look like a spirit, he was very manly in fact, standing before me now, I can see him clearly. I might have been drunk to have assumed he floated towards me.
"Who are you?” I asked,
"I am eternity", he answered. I am drunk indeed. His voice felt so young, like the voice of a baby from Enugu. He is definitely not a baby from Enugu.
"Who are youreally?” I asked again.
"I have answered that question. For someone bound by time, I would advise you to ask the right question", he replied with a cheeky smile.
"What is the right question then?" another question from me.
"Who are you?" he replied, pointing at me.
I was stunned at this point, I began to doubt the level of my drunkenness. This young man who has christened himself as eternity must be the drunken one; I did not know what to say so I threw his words back at him; "who am I?" rhetorically.
"Yes brother, do you know who you are?" he asked, looking at me quizzically, I did not reply so he continued, "You have tasted of the oil of Benin, dug the ...

Sands of Katsina, navigated the waters of the confluence, envisioned the Empire of Ife, heard the voices of the future of Enugu and in fact bedded wisdom..."
"Wisdom?" I interrupted
"Oh yes, wisdom herself, Hikimar indeed is the Hausa word for wisdom. And under the witnesses of heaven, millions of perspiration, approval of heaven's watchful eyes, that which you call rain, did you explore her body, make known your intentions and received essence from her", he continued.
"I am confused", I said.
"Then you must ask questions", he replied.
"How did this all happen without my knowing?" I asked.
"From the moment you saw wisdom, you desired her, you wanted to know her, to explore her depths and unravel her mystery. You wanted to uncover her beauty and make creation known through her. Your desire attracted her to you, and she did lead you to your desires and made you the forbearer of creation", he replied.
I am beyond drunk indeed, all the nonsense he was saying was of no importance to me, all I wanted was my Hikimar, and since he knew her he could lead me to her, but first I must ask; "why did she leave?"
"She had already granted all you wanted, and had given you her spirit to attend to you in dreams, her purpose was fulfilled", he answered.
I was furious at this point, I slammed my cup on the table and shouted; "but I wanted to marry her!"
He looked at me and with a smile he said, "No man can have all the wisdom brother"
I was sad at this point, sobbing my hearts out, I asked; "will I see her again?"
"I don't know that, but her spirit will remain with you forever", he answered.
"But you claim to be eternity, are you not supposed to have seen and known everything?" I am in tears at this point.
"I am eternity in deed, I have seen everything, but I am not knowledge, I don't know everything. The fact that you see does not mean you know, this is demonstrated by the fact that your eyes is separate from your brain, seeing is not knowing", he replied, with a little chuckle this time around.
There was a joke in there somewhere, but I did not get it. I still felt dejected, my cup was empty at this point, the young man wasn't saying anything, he seemed to be lost in his thought, for someone called eternity he seemed too young so I asked, "how come you are so young if you are indeed eternity?"
"Age is not known to me, time is not known to me, I have no beginning, I have no end", he answered
"Are you God?" I was curious
"Oh no I'm not", he scuffed, "I am eternity. The poets say eternity is in God's hands, they are not far from the truth", he answered.
"I am confused still",
"That's because you have been asking the wrong questions. You attempt to know me, to know God, to know wisdom, all these are good, but will be useless when you haven't known yourself"
What he said seemed to make sense, so I asked "who am I?"
"Finally, the right question. I can be on my way now. You are Adam, known by various names to various tribes, but you are one, it was you who discovered nature, and used wisdom to establish your seeds in all the earth, by you nature birthed life and through you life will exist. Look around and observe all that your seed has done"...

I looked around and beheld the trees, mountains, rivers, oceans. I saw the animals, the beasts and the insects, they were marvelous and they were born of my seed. I was excited, it all made sense to me now, all the nights under the rain, pouring my seed away, guided by the eggs of wisdom, they were not wasted, they birthed creation, and indeed all has been made. I felt fulfilled, but I don't know who I truly am yet, where I am from, if I did eternity wouldn't wait for me, so I asked "where did I come from?"
"We were all made by God, while for some of us, our beginning is not known; wisdom, knowledge, eternity, and many others; others like you Adam, nature, and earth itself, your beginning is known. We are all brothers, God is our father. It is He who cannot be known for He was, is, and will be"
I felt special, but then something did not feel right, "if you are not knowledge, how come you know so much?" I asked.
"Wrong question again, but I will answer. Unlike the rest of us, knowledge is not personified, it's a stream of information and power that flows in the heavens, and with the right frequency inhabitants of the earth and other heavenly bodies can tap into it", he answered.
"How do I tap into knowledge?"
"Ask, seek and knock... you have been doing the first part since we met, and in deed you have gained much knowledge in the process. The time will come for you to do the others, to seek, and to knock",
"What do I do now?"
"Be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion", he said finally and seemed to vanish before my eyes.
Meeting eternity had made me sober, I became aware of my environment, the earth, trees, animals, fishes, birds, mountains, everything. I had knowledge, I had known wisdom, I wasn't sad anymore.
But I felt empty...
"You want more beer?" I heard a female voice ask. I looked over the counter, just beyond where I nestled my cup and there she was, as beautiful as beauty can. She looked so much like wisdom, but no, this wasn't Hikimar, this was more like me, she was flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones, she was a woman. She stood there with the entire smile her face could mutter, and I was drop dead speechless.
"How long have you been there?" I asked
She smiled at me, poured more beer into my cup and said, "Well, I have been here from the beginning", that was when I knew that she was my wife. Therefore shall a man leave his mother and his father and shall find a woman and shall cling to her and both of them shall become one flesh.
"Eve, Eve...you must be Eve", I said
She smiled....
--------THE END------