African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Joshua Henry Jones, Jr. "The Four Seas Are Brothers" (1921)

 THE FOUR SEAS ARE BROTHERS 
 
 The four seas are brothers. 
     Thus the age old legend runs. 
 And the kinship shows 
 In each wind that blows 
      From the poles to tropic suns. 
 
 The four seas are brothers 
     To the folk who dwell ashore; 
 For the tide that sweeps 
 Over shoals and deeps 
      Is the same in sigh or roar. 
 
 The four seas are brothers 
    Whether North, East, South or West. 
 For their fountain head 
 Is the common bed 
     Where the bones of wreckage rest. 
 
 The four seas are brothers. 
     And ne'er shall be more parts. 
 And a man is a man 
 Despite pride or ban, 
      Matters not from whence he starts. 

Published in Poems of the Four Seas, 1921

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