I don’t watch a lot of news, but somewhere along my spectacularly bad day yesterday I saw this story about the kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria and it devastated me. For the girls of Chibok and their families.

How will I be happy
They took all the girls
They have taken our children
And no one has rescued them

How will I be happy
They came in your uniform
With lies, god and guns
And each day is silence

Who will redeem us
Where are our warriors
They stole away our babies
And no one has rescued them

Some trickled home
Rain drops in a drought
We go mad with thirst
The sky has gone clear

We hunt our girls
Bows against bullets
Seeking their fires
In all four directions

We cannot search heaven
For this precious blackness
We cannot search hell
For this sacred body

How will I be happy
Their names crowd my mouth
Their dreams ache my sleep
Does my daughter weep

How will I be happy
Crawl inside this grief
With this reaping of girl child
They have taken our joy