My Pen Will Dig My Grave

A few years ago, while a Boko Haram sect raided a village, one of the kidnapped Chibok girls was made their arms bearer.
She confided in a villager who happened to know who she was, "Tell my mother you saw me." This poem is for her.

Bear in mind that the Chibok girls were kidnapped for trying to get an education and you'll understand the tone of the following verse.


Tell my mother you saw me;
I bear arms and explosives.
Tell her ama get in touch
Even if, as a human torch.
Providence may plug the distance
And concoct a better consequence

Tell my mother I ain't sorry
Because I owe no apology
For trying to acquire skill.
I'm a female man who loves school.
First I'm going to sharpen my tools,
Next I punch down the glass ceiling.

Because I'll perish, if I must, to read.
I will stay my back to the grind
Till I achieve the educated mind.
Cause I am no mental slave.
And I will study in bondage
Or my pen will dig my grave.

Akpan