WUNRN
9th June, 2015, osogbo - RNM
POEM FOR THE ABDUCTED NIGERIA CHIBOK SCHOOLGIRLS &
ALL OTHER WOMEN & GIRLS IN CAPTIVITY
UNIMAGINABLE! THE LIGHT WILL SURELY CONQUER DARKNESS
when nobody wants to remember
and I don’t want to forget
when lack of courage
is disguised as normalcy
and we heave collective sighs
of nothingness
and move on
how can we move on?
when my night seems long
your night seems eternal
when the days seem hard
your days seem an inferno
hotter and deeper
than the deepest pits of hell.
how I wish the stars could tell you
that our candle of hope lives on?
that your memories stick in our hearts
as we struggle and battle on?
we have not forgotten.
how I wish the moon could whisper
when you gaze at it at night
to tell you we will never forget
until you are home
until you are home.
they make it seem crazy
they make it seem absurd
that we still call out your names
that we still count the days
when it has been so long,
when it has been too long.
can a mother forget
one that sucked from her breast?
can the sister forget
the heart strings that bind?
can the father forget
how he hoped to protect
but could not
and did not.
what heartbreak!
what trauma!
how can I tell you to hold on?
who am I to say?
how can I tell you to be strong?
when I know nothing of your pain?
how can I tell you we are coming
when I have no gun, no army,
no one to help me break through
your darkest lasting night?
when no one wants to remember
and I don’t want to forget
and all that seems unimaginable
must be imagined.
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