Tag Archives: Poem

Reflect Nigeria – Tragic Fiction (4) Thunderous Silence

Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:

Thunderous is the silence of inactivity in the country concerning the continued situation of the hundreds of girls abducted from their school in Nigeria.

Mr. President:

How was your breakfast today? How was the comfort of your tranquil bed last night? Well, I have not eaten anything in two days, neither have I slept in my dormitory bed or enjoyed the comfort of my family home in 10 weeks. What a tragedy! Let me remind you, in case you have forgotten, that I have been in the stranglehold of captivity since I was abducted between the hours of April 14 and April 15, 2014, from my school in Chibok, Nigeria as I slept in my dormitory dreaming about my future. A future that I hoped would somehow only be limited by the dimensions of my innate potential. However, I was not allowed to pursue that promise because of the ineptitude of my government; due to the failure to protect vulnerable school girls and the failure to rescue us. What a pity!

Again, lest you have forgotten, let me remind you of the horror that has befallen the daughters of the country you took an oath to protect. Or do you somehow pray that we will become shadows of the night blended with oblivion and erased from the remembrance of the nation and the world. Although, we may have been relegated to the recesses of existence, by the inexcusable failure of your government to adequately protect our school and the unconscionable failure thereafter to effect our immediate liberation, the undeniable fact is that we are Nigerian girls who were violently snatched from the pursuit of our lives, a right, inalienable, and bequeathed to every human being. Lest none forget us, one of our collective prayers in incarceration is that history etch our names indelibly in blood in the chronicles of the mind and time so that our names and faces will never be erased from the collective memory of the nation, and world.

How tragic the unbridled grief of our families from whom solace stands ever fickle and aloof in the debris of shattered hope. What exactly do you think has been our fate? Do you somehow believe that we have not been beaten, gang raped repeatedly, degraded incessantly and humiliated beyond description? Or do you choose to ignore the reality of our situation. The stark reality is that the depth of the depravity we have been subjected to by evil during the day and at night is unimaginable. As the horrific moments turned into horrendous days and now those days into the dreadful months, all figment of hope has dissipated into smithereens. We languish in the midst of despair and mourn the death of our dreams and the abrupt cessation of our youth. Should your government not be leading the campaign to rescue us from this vortex of fear? Rather, instead of determined valour, in its stead lies crippled the skeletal and desiccated remains of apathy. Alas, dead and still, lie any mirage of the vacuous platitudes to extricate us from this quagmire. Have you even declared a day of mourning for us? For we hear the stories of you dancing at parties and boarding jets beyond the boundaries of the nation as we suffocate in this cesspit. What a calamity! Woe betide and cursed be the night of April 14 through April 15, 2014, in the history books of Nigeria. Let it stand in infamy in the history of our country as mothers rend their garments and fathers gnash their teeth.

I hear the boots of oppression approaching … so I must stop again.

Fictional story to be continued.

YemilBenjoy ©

 

 

 

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Wisdom’s Trails

Where lieth the true essence of wisdom.

Does it just accompany the chronology of age

Simply because the years turn into decades of life.

Is it found through one existence defining experience

Or amid the multitude of challenges encountered during

The phases shaping the course of our fragile mortality.

 

Is it manifest in considered circumspection, probably

Applied in varying degrees to ensuing circumstance and events.

Is it the unique province of a few who then impart it wisely

As revered sages to the expectant seeking its solemn direction.

Or is it a derivative of the collective thoughts, then spoken, or woven

Into bound volumes of scholarly accounts for the edification of many.

 

Could it be, that it is encountered in the calm solitude of the walk

Through the parks and gardens of contemplation, or arises from

Deep within the routine of the communing with the supreme being.

Possibly, it may reveal itself in one of or a combination of these.

Yet, the one who finds wisdom should guard it utmost jealously

For in its midst, is contained the invaluable compass to navigate life.

 

Thus, irrespective of where its imprints are encountered,

When indeed in its time, it attends to your discernment

And commands by its very stature one’s rapt attention

Court it fully, and abide wholeheartedly by its doctrines.

With astuteness, hold firm to its priceless undeniable virtues

To guide your judgement, utterances and all undertakings.

That its essence, may steadfastly illuminate your course

With its sagacious attributes to your enduring benefit.

 

YemilBenjoy ©

 

 

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Will Anybody Come To Your Aid

Will you hear me when I call for help for anyone in need
Or will you elect to ignore the cries and ardent pleas.
Will you heed the sobbing or wailing in the night
Or in content, drown them in feigned oblivion or indifference.
Will you walk away when affliction confronts others
Convincing yourself, that someone else somewhere else
Will in your stead, seek to rescue the sorely oppressed
And downtrodden masses, trapped under evil’s albatross.
Will you close your eyes to all the aggravated suffering
That beckons loudly for necessary and sustained intervention,
Till no solace is offered to neither nations or hapless souls
And all civility is obliterated from the course of humanity, then
The unconscionable, thriving reigns wantonly and supreme
While decency itself is subjugated amid complete despair
Till you, then look around for urgent help for yourself, and
Find, all figment of lost hope, lying conquered and entombed
Within the ruins of decency, and none can no longer rise
To your rescue or dare stand to extend any measure of relief.

YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – Tragic Fiction (3)

Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:

Mr. President,

I return to writing under the threat of bodily harm but I must continue because I do not want you or the world to forget us in the dreadful alleys of time. Have you forgotten us? Or do you hope that with time we will simply fade deep into the recesses of the mind, conveniently never to be remembered. I will continue to write so that you never forget that we were abducted from our school in Chibok and now Dapchi, Nigeria.

The news we heard today was of calamitous proportions. A  12 year-old girl is pregnant. My heart stopped when I heard the news. It was a confounding situation, not for lack of understanding the process that led to this perplexing state of affairs, but completely destabilizing because of the protracted cruelty of evil. How could this be? I prayed that it would not be true. I prayed for myself and prayed for my sister that this would not be our fate. The thought was unbearable. How could childhood be violently interrupted with forced motherhood? How could innocence be violated with no consequences? All because we pursued the dream of advancement through education and our government failed to protect us from foreseeable acts of the malevolent. Alas, it failed to protect the hallowed ground of every child, our school.

Now the shores of hope remain distant, even the mirage of a gallant rescue that we used to cling to has dissipated into nothingness like the barren forest we are held captive in, barren of love, barren of parents, barren of childhood, barren of dreams and barren of life. What a tragedy. Frightening minutes have turned into awful days and into forsaken weeks. Have you even thought about us recently? Do you weep for us? If I were your daughter, would I still be here? Again, I ask have you spoken to our parents. We heard that a security risk may have prevented you from going to Chibok and now Dapchi. What an irony. Yet, we have been condemned by the government’s failure to rescue us to lives in tatters where there is no promise or protection.

Will my life be a continuum of threats, assaults, degradation and fear? Or will it be plagued constantly with the screaming of another captive beaten to death because she had the audacity to fight for her life. There is no refuge in this place. The days are filled with despair and the nights with dread and the silent weeping under the yoke of tyranny. Do we cry in vain? Hear our cries and save us.

I hate to but I must stop again.

Fictional story to be continued.

YemilBenjoy ©

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Connected by Words

This post is specifically written to

Acknowledge everyone for all the likes and for following my blog.

Although, we may live in different places in this great universe

And each embark on our separate and unique life journey,

Thank you very much for taking the time

To read my posts and I hope we can remain

Connected by words…

 

Thank you and stay tuned.

 

YemilBenjoy©

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Reflect Nigeria – Tragic Fiction (2) Chibok And Now Dapchi Girls

Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:

Mr. President,

I had to abruptly stop writing the other day because I heard one of the captors coming and if they had found me writing they would have beaten me mercilessly to the point of death like my best friend. I miss her, my sister and everyone I love. I try to remember their faces so that I never forget them. I can only write this letter because I had a notebook and pen with me when we were abducted. We take turn hiding the items so that they are not found.

This letter gives us a dim flicker of hope that you will send troops to rescue us from this quagmire. It seems that we will never be rescued. The captors laugh at us. They laugh at our nakedness, tell us we are worthless and will be sold as sex slaves. It is just so awful to hear and contemplate. They tell us that our government does not care about us and will not rescue us, and that even if the government tried, they will not be able to rescue us. Is this true? For if it is, that is nothing but damnation for us. For we are damned by the acts of the foreseeable abduction, that was not prevented, and the failure to rescue us, to a  wretched existence of shame, torture, ridicule, bondage and repeated violation. If you will not or cannot rescue us, have you asked other countries that can rescue us to save us from this cursed forest.

Words cannot adequately describe the depth of my despair nor convey the feeling of helplessness at being violently uprooted from the foundation of my life. It is a state of complete desperation. I am deathly afraid. I have not seen my mother’s smile nor heard my father’s voice in weeks, let alone the streets of my community or the sunset over my home. Why? I know that my grandmother wears her black garment of lamentation to mourn for me. Yet I am not dead. Alas, the pathetic irony is that I may be alive, yet I am not living. How could this happen to me, all because I am girl who went to school in Chibok. I miss my life.

It is another forsaken day in captivity. It is raining again and there is minimal shelter. We sit huddled together and dare not express our real feelings or we will feel the cold ends of the guns against our heads. We wait silently for the sun to come out to dry our skin and our clothes. I no longer like the sound of rain. I tried to cry but no tears came. I tried to console another girl who does not speak any more but no words came forth, so I hold her hand and it is very cold. When will this suffering end? Will it ever end?

I wonder, is it right that some men because they have power over vulnerable school girls, can change the course of our lives, sending us to premature deaths and selling us into slavery. Why are we the scapegoats and sacrificial lambs at the altar of anarchy and depravity? They boast. They say that they are more powerful than ever. They plan more bombings and kidnappings.

I must stop again. Save us please.

Fictional story to be continued – Chibox and now Dapchi Girls

 

YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – Tragic Fiction (1) Chibok And Now Dapchi Girls

Although this is a fictional narrative, sadly it is to convey what an abducted girl in captivity may write:

Mr. President,

Do you know that my sister and I were among some of the girls kidnapped from our beds at our school in Chibok and now Dapchi, Nigeria? I now live in a constant state of terror, not knowing what will happen to me next. I am completely devastated that my life as I knew it is over and live in horror that I may never see my family again. I detest what my life has become. I am helpless and unable to protect myself or my fellow captives. My younger sister was also taken that ill-fated day and I have not seen her since then. As her older sister, I shudder to think that she is also going through what I am suffering. I weep for her. I weep for myself. I weep for all the captives. I weep for my parents and over the abhorrent situation that we have been thrust into. I am worried about my parents. Have you spoken to them?

My best friend was killed on the first day of our abduction. They caught her as she was trying to run back to freedom. She died from the beating. I still hear her screaming. Since she died, I have been very scared to run away because I don’t want to die trying to escape but I don’t want to live as a slave. Which is the viable abyss? The two options are hell on earth.

I once had a dream to become a doctor so that I could help my community deal with diseases and take care of the sick. Did I dream in vain because I am Nigerian girl living in Chibok? Will that dream ever be revived? In captivity, we know no peace. We have no privacy, little to eat or drink. We no longer sleep in beds. There are no bathrooms, we have no soap and are no longer able to bath daily. Guns are pointed at our faces and at our heads. We are constantly threatened with death and bodily harm. We have forgotten the sound of laughter and they make us do the most unspeakable things. Please save us from this insanity.

At school, in one of my classes we read the Oath of Office of the Nigerian President. I recall that it includes the following:

“ I do solemnly swear and affirm … that in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, … and that I will devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of Nigeria. So help me God”.

If that is the case, why am I here? Why have we not been rescued after several weeks? Why was my school not protected? Why have we been raped? Why are we being sold like valueless commodities on the ignominious market square of slave trade. Will we ever be rescued? We are powerless and exist at the mercy of our captors and slave masters and need to be rescued. Please do not forget us.

I must stop now because I hear someone coming…

 

Fictional story to be continued.

 

YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – Forget Them Not

Please world, kindly do NOT forget…

That the girls abducted from their beds

In their school dormitories while they slept

At night in Nigeria, taken from their dreams and hopes

Cast into a jungle of despair

 

BringOurGirlsBack

Have not yet been returned to their families.

Please do not  forget them.

Thank you for caring.

YemilBenjoy ©

 

 

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Reflect Nigeria – Abduction of Girls – Questions To Be Answered

When did the government know that the girls were kidnapped? Did the government know about the kidnapping 4 hours before the kidnapping occurred or after the girls had been kidnapped?

What was the action plan developed by the government to prevent the kidnapping if they were forewarned about the kidnapping?

What was the action plan developed by the government immediately after receiving news of the kidnapping? If an action plan was developed, when was it developed?

Why was there communication soon after the kidnapping conveying that the girls had been found?

When was the mission to rescue the girls activated by the government?

Did the government wait for the offer of assistance from other nations or immediately request assistance?

Did the gender of the kidnapped children play a role in the handling of the national calamity?

Are there men and women willing to resign in light of the handling of the national calamity?

Is the welfare of Nigerians important?

For the abducted girls, the inconsolable families and the distraught nation – somebody please answer these questions.

YemilBenjoy ©

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Reflect Nigeria – The Abducted Girl’s Vigil

I am a girl.
I am a human being.
I am a citizen of the world.
I have a mother who weeps for me.
I have a father who searches for me.
I have a brother and sister who do not know where I am.
I have a family bewildered by my disappearance.
For someone stole my life from me.
Took me violently from everything I knew and loved
And from all those who loved me, and brutally
Forced me into a state of no existence
Because my gender is female, and like
An object with no spirit and no name
Cast me aside for the use of others
In complete disregard for my humanity
Without a care about my dreams and hopes
And against my will and without my consent.
Am I invisible…
Can nobody hear my crying in the night.
Is the world deaf to my screaming when I am raped.
Is the world oblivious to the bleeding from my wounds.
Is the world laughing when my body is exposed and
My essence is viciously taken from me repeatedly and by many
What did I do to deserve this.
Why does humanity allow this to happen.
Is nobody listening to my wailing.
Does nobody care.
Does anybody care.
Or do you choose not to care.
Will somebody please help me.
Please.

YemilBenjoy ©

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