Ibo Lesson

(from lessons by Y.M. Barnwell (c)1993)

We can walk oon the waters. It's only our fears that can stop us.
We are the sons and the daughters of the Ibos who walked on the waters.


The Ibos were brought here on slave ships, their aarms and their legs bound in shackles,
And when they set foot onto these shores and tried to make sense of their journey,
The ancestors gave them a vision of circumstances far into the future;  of the future.

They turned and they started walking - straight out of slavery with their shackles,
Into the waters that had brought them.

They rose on the currents and kept walking - straight past the ships that had brought them.

They walked, yes they walked on the waters.



We are the Ibos who walked on the waters.

We can walk on th ewaters.  It's only our fears that can stop us.
We who have languished on these shores,
We should not languish further.
We have a vision of the future and we can walk on the waters.