"Okun" by Adeyinka Olanrewaju

Good tidings

I beg the tides to come ashore

Carry the sunset to me

That I may be bathed in golden rays

Eat not the sand beneath my feet

In your ravenous hunger

Bear me if you must

To the mansions in Ikoyi

But do not be pregnant with me

Your son, not food for leviathans

Sail lilies to my heartthrob

Let your breath caress my breasts

Salt blisters accrued from my travails –

Stepmother sea, with your rheumy eyes,

Look upon your naked child

Kneeling ashore in prayer

Adeyinka Olanrewaju is a 600-level student of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State.