-Lovelin Kolawole

Oh, river goddess,

Your beauty illuminates

the waves of the river.

Your shining hair

heals the blind,

Your dark brown skin

is like molasses

poured from oak trees.

Oh, river goddess,

Yeye Ọmọ Eja, Olómi,

Your names cut across nations,

Tongue carving them

like stones on driftwood.

Oh, river goddess,

Awoyo (she who brings joy),

Your level of generosity

is unmatched through ages.

The spirit who takes care

of both mother and children,

The great defender of her people.

Oh, river goddess,Orisha,

whose temper is as calm as Adaba,

She who joys destruction and violence

at the spike of her anger.

Oh, river goddess,

Yeye Olókun Ase,

mother who owns the ocean of power:

Today, I bring to your doorstep

my offering of not obi abata,

àṣọ funfun, and cowries,

But the broken mirror of children

who know emojis but not oríkì,

who speak of Wi-Fi, not of ancestors—

A generation that has forgotten

how to kneel by water.

Oh, river goddess,

Teach us again

How to listen

when the river sings,

And pray for us