When Oceans Speak
Lagos, Nigeria
2022, Senior, Performing Arts
You said you need me
But then tried to kill me
It just doesn’t add up
Why can’t you see how your trash
Suffocates me?
The oil stream is spreading
And I’m slowly, dying
Of this disease
I am the ocean, you are the shore
Every time I kiss you
Sweep you off your feet
Oh but you send me away
And I’m never the same
Cause you’re draining my life
Still I’ll fall on your knife
Won’t you open your eyes and realize
Realize
I’m barely surviving
But you keep on thriving
Is this how you love me?
Why can’t you see how the weight
Of destruction
That you’re calling progress
It’s not mutualistic
You blood-sucking leech
I am the ocean, you are the shore
Every time I kiss you
Sweep you off your feet
Oh but you send me away
And I’m never the same
Cause you’re draining my life
Still I’ll fall on your knife
Won’t you open your eyes and realize
Realize
This crisis you’re in
Is just the beginning and yo
I’m not tripping
Cause soon I’ll be dipping
Since money is more important than life
You’ve turned me into an enterprise
Spend me like a credit card with no limit
Then forget about me right about the next minute
Every time I kiss you
Sweep you off your feet
Oh but you send me away
And I’m never the same
Cause you’re draining my life
Still I’ll fall on your knife
Won’t you open your eyes and realize
Realize
Reflection
Reflection
While researching on this year’s theme, I learned that the ocean regulates the earth’s climate and produces even more oxygen for us than the Amazon regions. We are relying on the ocean more and more for survival: to provide nutritional food items, employment opportunities, and clean air. The ocean is home, life, and serenity to all who experience it; the heart, soul, and body of the earth. Why, then, do we take for granted and treat so poorly the very embodiment of life that we all depend on? Ironic. We don’t seem to realize that the very knife we plunge into the heart of the ocean is the same weapon we use to destroy ourselves and our modern environment. The vivid imagery of ocean waves creeping up the shorelines set my inspiration for this piece. No matter how many times the shoreline pushes back the tides, they still keep coming, hoping that one day they will find a way to stay and reach a point of absolute rest. As I imagined it, we humans represent the shorelines. It’s as though the ocean is willing to endure whatever pain we inflict on her, until we finally accept and fall into her embrace. The ocean is not our real enemy... we are.