By Leena Joshi
Youth Advisory Council Member
Though rising towers where tides once rolled,
And engines hum where gulls once called,
I dwell afar from breakers’ spray,
In a city forged from steel and clay.
But hush, beneath this urban skin,
The oceans rise, they surge within.
Each breath I take, a salted breeze,
Each heartbeat echoes ancient seas.
I am no stranger to the wave
The deep calls out from where it’s brave.
My thoughts, like currents, twist and turn,
With tidal pull, they crash and yearn.
These veins are rivers seeking tide,
My soul a shore where dreams reside.
Though miles away from coastal blue,
The ocean’s voice still sings me true.
For every drop that shaped this earth
Now dances in my blood, my birth.
From coral pulse to whale-song’s grace,
The ocean lives within this place.
Skyscrapers loom like cliffs of glass,
And sirens now in traffic pass,
Yet close your eyes, you still might see
A drift of foam where dreams run free.
Don’t let the sea feel alone,
Though far from brine and spray and stone.
On World Ocean Day, I say with glee:
The ocean is not far — it is me.
Oceans in mind, in breath, in bone
I am the tide, the storm, the moan.
Let the city fade and silence be…
Then hear it whisper: Oceans are me.
