To be birth marked on arrival to wade through
Sulfurous waves is no easy burden.
Set your eyes to the horizon and inhale.

When the starving sea groans and its monsters leap,
Hold fast to those songs that stem from the ocean’s depths.
Do not waver, sing!

Let those who will swim behind you say: They were
The great evaders of the oceans’ belly, masters of terrible tides –
Give them song!

And to those with smooth passage and clear weather
Godspeed! But remember whose bones make firm
Your steady boats.

OMOTUNDE OREDIPE was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. He studied at South Carolina State University, where he served as the Poet Laureate (2016–2017) and founded the Poetry & Ideas Organization. His poems are forthcoming in Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora.