One Hundred Days

• for the 200 Chibok girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram 14-15^th April, 2014

In the space of one hundred days

what several miracles

might come to pass?

A thousand buds

might burst to bloom,

their fragrance like

a blessing on the air;

a dream or two

come true at last,

or an infant smile

its first real smile;

a girl child grow

to womanhood,

a boy become a man.

In one hundred days love’s

flame might leap from

friendship’s quiet regard.

Or else, with little outcry

but their mothers’

silent weeping

two hundred girls

might be lost.

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Abigail Elizabeth Ottley Wyatt is nothing if not a survivor. She has survived first the attentions of paedophiles and then marriage to two abusive husbands, not to mention more than two decades in secondary teaching. Having left teaching in 2004, she now writes poetry and short fiction from her home near Carn Brea in Cornwall. She is passionate about her beliefs and principles and has a reputation for shouting her mouth off. She can be contacted via www.facebook.com/abigailelizabethwyatt/