341 342 343 344, I was counting the stars in the sky, something that I was not obvious to, I was in deep thought about my life.

I had clocked 27 years, though I seemed to look much older; to have failed in all facets of life; education, social life, joblessness, home and I had got a girl pregnant. I had lost freedom, became an object of ridicule.

Truancy never pays, I had sort the company of young men whose lifestyle predicted a bleak future, I made my future bleak, we intermingled and now I have found myself where I wouldn't want to be.

As I sat in my couch, counting my curses and naming my blames, my pregnant girlfriend came through, offering an opium through the words of encouragement.

She said thus "it is not the end of the world" "why don't you pick up the pieces and move on" "nobody is putting you in this bondage situation".

Her words were just beginning to strengthen before she added, "get up let us build up together, as long as there is life there is hope; let us long, linger on and live free"