DEAR LEAH SHARIBU,
The year was February 15, 2006
Wednesday morning
As the wild breath of harmattan
Found its way into my nostrils
I knew yet again it was time
To prepare for school
As I had visited home earlier
Reluctantly took my bath
Forced myself into my
Well ironed Navy blue shots
And milk shirts uniforms
And like ornaments,
I wore those smiles
Side to side
Ready to stand in front of my
Proud father and bid him
Farewell.
See nothing was going to stop me
As I walked majestically towards
The back door of his courtyard
Upright and bold
Like a young lion
Ready to accomplish
This one simple goal
That I’m bent on.
But suddenly,
Like a woman
Stuck in the pains of childbirth
I was interrupted by the screams
Of my mother
Heeeeeelp…..
I remember,
Everyone of my siblings
Including our 8month old
Running and crawling
Towards the tornado of her voice
As the cold hands of fear
Gripped my entire family
Your father is gone
She said.
As oceans of tears
Free fell from the fountains of her eyes
I knew my mission had failed
I knew I would never get the chance
To say “FAREWELL”
See, all I wanted to say was farewell
As I left for school
But now I’m forced to say
Farewell as you leave this life,
Dear Leah sharibu
I don’t know you
But one thing I do know is
Your family Nevers has to
Go through what mine went through
February 15th, 2006
As death came ridding
Through our courtyard
On a pale horse.
February 19th, 2018
Monday morning
I caught wind of the
News headline
That a 110 innocent school girls
Had just been kidnapped.
And in all anxiety
As I flipped through the papers
To read in details
The only detail running through
The screen o my mind
Was the detail of that screams of that night
Heeeeeeeelp 2x
As unknown faces
With heart like poison
And the stench of a grave
Armed to the teeth
Against little school girls
Invaded your privacies
As you laid in your beds
Tired from the long night preps
Long gone into your
States of unconsciousness
I paused to ask myself
This one question,
Did they come in quietly
And left quietly?
If not, how come
Nobody raised an alarm?
Then I imagined your mother
And 100 more like her
Holding this very paper
Right in their palms
Shivering in fear
As this news made headlines on their faces
Praying so hard for
It not to be true
But see, she prays till this day……….
A boy at 14 lost a father
And now a father lost a daughter
Who was also 14
Months later
We all make this one mistake
Of serving them dinner
Though we know
They would be unable to eat them.
We still miss them.
May 15th, 2018
I imagined a 15 year old
Enveloped in fear
Stripped of freedom
As she marked +1
In the hands of her abductors
Some where in a far away land
Maybe a cave
With no cakes,
Candle lights nor birthday songs
Just terror and fierce faces
Threatening a life that has only just begun.
Dear Leah sharibu
Forgive them For their ignorance
Forgive them for not understanding
The one you believe in
Forgive them For thinking
They can take away your faith
By locking you far away
From family, friends, and dreams
Dreams of one day becoming a doctor
Its foolishness not to know
That faith is of the heart
And should not be taken by force
Forgive them for lack of shame
Forgive them for they
Do not know what they do.
For give them,
For yet it was for people like them
That Christ died.
See!
I heard somewhere in the news
That the night it happened
Your government denied it
Forgive them for speaking so
Absent minded
Forgive your country and leaders
For their long lasting laxity.
Some times I wonder
If love and truth were any where
Close to their hearts?
would patience still be virtue
If it be their sons and daughters
On the other side of fate?
Finally forgive me……..
For not putting pen to pad
To pen this piece
Earlier than this.
Dear Leah sharibu
Permit me to say that
Your dark moments
Has brought light to many minds
Darkened
Courage and hope to the hopeless
More healing than a doctor can ever
Give to this sick country in a life time
Though denied the right to speak
Your silence shhhhhhhhhhh
Have become a voice…………
A voice that speaks for the voiceless
Innocent bloods spilt Constantly
On the alter of politics Masked in religion
Like a clock
You are the heart beat
That ticks every second
A reminder to remind
This dear country how long
She’s lived without her conscience
And sometimes I do wonder
How we got to a place
Far dark as this….
Have we become so unconscious
That we no longer realize
That all lives do matter
That been poor isn’t a crime
That deserves slaughter as penalty.
Dear Leah sharibu
As the sun rises and sets
In it’s horizon
I can only picture….. A country
A country celebrating her freedom
While the child of her womb is still
Framed……
Framed in slavery…..
How dare we say we are free
When your heart barely remembers
How freedom feels like?
Nor your skin, the warmth…..
From the embrace of family
Friends and loved ones.
So while the flags of injustice
Still floaters around…
And this country insist
On celebrating her independence
I refuse to lift a cup in cheers
For we are not yet free
I look forward to the day
You will be set free
Dear Leah sharibu.
Audio drops soon!
ABOUT SPEECH POETRY
He is:
A Christian
A Biologist
A Teacher
A Spokenword Poet
An Artist and
A Script Writer
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