Thursday, April 16, 2015

For the #ChibokGirls #NeverToBeForgotten

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


No comments:

Post a Comment