Sunset in Hopepophia

(For J.P. Clark)

By Evelyn Osagie

Under murky waters

Gloomy brotherhood

Baptised our foreheads

Raised to the solemn seashore

We race naked

Like bruised casualties

Bearing marks of hatred, pain

Back to yester-lies of our battered homeland

Breaking free the hold of the fallen gods

Wrestling at all cost to hold power

Under the harsh sun

Contused fraternity

Strengthened by black-coloured umbilical cord

We march towards our day of dream

We return to the waters

For a new-fangled baptism

Like voyagers on a mission

We migrate towards the Sunset of Hope

Row and troll

Splish-splash

Paddle and scull

We paddle our raft towards the sunset

Bearing a new tomorrow

To the Island of Hopepophia

We go

Where we celebrate

Singing our union song

Our JP has paddled on to the great beyond

As night rain bathe and cleanse our foreheads

On neatly woven palm fronds

With indigo paints

We paint our vision

With coconut oil on coconut shells

We rewrite our umbilicus’s story

 Only to reach the sunset of our dream

To find a new Sun is born

— Osagie is a poet, journalist