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| Photo credit: nairaland.com |
There are no words for
deafening silence
There are no thoughts for numbness
There are no pictures
Worthy enough for nightmares
There are no buckets enough
To fetch the tears of families
Directly caught in the vortex
of this evil
A heinous crime against
humanity
This is not a poem
This is for you:
Halima. Hannatu. Mayramu
Hauwa. Iyagana. Liyatu
Fatima. Rebecca. Lugwa
219 Chibok Girls. Our girls
Nigerian schoolgirls
Daughters of the world
In the torrents of shuddering emotions
The world found you
Hidden In the bowels of Sambisa
If only collective rage
On the media, Internet and social media,
-While our government dragged
its feet
In denial and utterly shocking
silence –
If only a million articles and
broadcast
If only a billion and one tweets
Could have saved you
We would have brought you
back home by now
Broken by your brazen abduction
By blood sucking vampires in
human clothing
Nigeria is still at a loss over your forced absence
Maybe we should have asked more
questions
Right from the start
For your parents and a nation,
It’s been one year
Of gnawing pain, crushing grief
Not knowing exactly where you are...
But we hold on to strands of
defiant hope
We believe in your redemption
You must be rescued
Your safety is a task that must
be done!
Cos your freedom would bring
healing
And form a part of a nation’s
liberation
From the pangs of a failed
system
That’s why this army
#BringBackOurGirls
Would not stay silent
Thus, on the altar of collective rage
And heartfelt supplications
From Abuja’s heart,
China's centre,
To America’s depth,
In diverse voices
United as one global cry,
We pray for your safety and
rescue.
#BringBackOurGirls!
BringBackOurGirls!!
Gives us back our country’s
future.
#ChibokGirls
#NeverToBeFogotten
© Arukaino Umukoro, 2015
