innocent girls.
Clattering noises rambling a travelling air —
these pupils' solos are Nightingale's;
ten times ten is a hundred, hundred times
ten is a thousand. innocence is worn
as a cloth. nay, as a precious rag greet'ng
the door. the teacher speaks in silence — as
an hollow air. afraid of attraction.
when the wall gecko scrabble on th' ceiling,
the pupils — their minds, leap a wounded dog
and they're calm again when it tenses down.
they count fingers and toes: two twos is four,
two plus two is four. ten tens is ' hundred...
'n' when they came, their shoes was as soldier ants'
because the pupils wear deadness 'ready.
and they didn't sob. their masking clothes cov'red
them head to neck. and gruffly, a voice roared...
and they matched into a rattling engine.
and they were taken. i think teachers ran...
so they left, they love to live 'n a desert
so they were chanced. away from their people.
Chibok girls b'came tender baby flowers
that wither out of sight...the soil must b' checked!
"words from the innocent mind"
Akinwale Peace Akindayo
Philip Peace
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