For Chibok (A Year On)

Did you watch on television
the parties we threw
the weddings we attended
the cake we ate
while your daughters
were in the hands of terrorists?

Did you wonder
how we could still be human
when your children had been taken away from you
had been snatched from the safety of a school
taken into darkness 

into a vacuum?

Did we disappoint you?
Did we leave you
to grieve alone
as though your sadness was only yours to keep
as though we were not your people
as though we were not affected by the tragedy?

Do you hate us
for not being the bereaved
for not living in a town destroyed by Boko Haram
for not coming to rescue you
for not bringing them home
for leaving them with depraved men?

I imagine that you don't sleep at night
That you see the faces of your daughters
every day
When you eat and talk
and sit and walk
as you wait for their return

I am sorry that we failed you
I am sorry that half of us did not believe you
thought you were crying wolf
thought you were seeking attention
And the rest of us shrugged
because, after all, they are not our daughters

I am sorry
It has been a year and we are still waiting for them to return
Please forgive our negligence, our apathy
our nonchalance
We are sorry that our lives continued
while yours is frozen in time