Hear their pleas from the sea—
that vastness that took them in
before you did.
The creatures there wailed,
I hope,
and shared their disbelief.
To the dead, they said:
“Here you are part of life,
that endless cycle
we must all partake in.
On land, your place in it
will someday be remembered,
and they will cry out
who did not save you
and hurry out to the sea
to cradle you in your rebirth.”
Photography by Xiang Tiange
Paulina Odeth enjoys reading and writing about food, migration, and practices surrounding death and dying around the globe. Her work has previously appeared in Rethinking Refugees, Lazy Women and Everything is Political.