Day 15: April 15

A mother reconciles with one of the 21 Chibok girls recently released
by Boko Haram. This poem is written in her POV.
Photo Courtesy: premiumtimesng.com

She touched me.

And brought me sweet release.

And o, the visions that lit my mind

Would make blind men despise sight.

She stepped out of bondage

On a will that matched the mileage,

She touched me and every cold feeling

Thawed like wax and I find I can still believe.

She touched me.

And those pained years are but one minute.

And my fears bled then ran along like a river;

My joys will overflow the banks of the Niger.

She’s made of steel,

A heart that’s dying to live;

All her parts bind because she believed—

That’s what I felt when she touched me.

She touched me.

And brought me sweet release.

And o, the visions that lit my mind

Would make blind men despise sight.

Akpan