Hashtag : Chibok, April 14, 2014 by Debasis Mukhopadhyay

The girls had dropped their head scarves and dropped shoes along the way

I used that as a guide to follow where the hashtag came from

I went to a village and passed through it

The wooden bones of the market stalls filling the empty square

The wind recalling the sewing machines long since gone to rest

Sparrows sitting along the dusty way

The girls had dropped their head scarves and dropped shoes

I went to the next village where voices swarmed between the walls of reeds

Hundreds still surprised at the warmth of the smile the girls gave them in life

Sparrows sitting along their ruptured spine

I have hope said a mother holding on to the luster in the eyes of her smiling girl

The footprints led her up to that photo

The everlasting ravine from where she could say

She -will-come-back-one-day-or-may-her-soul-rest-in-peace

Quiet flowed the hashtag along the way

The girls had dropped their head scarves and dropped shoes