Child play

With tender lips
I kissed the tendril like tips
Of veiled vein
Neath your neck cape
Looking, I found it
Eliciting a cackle
Wringing a toothless cackle out of you
As I laughed too.

Odokoto; aqua in the hollow

In the visne
Of my soul unfolds...
As roused by the radio
Thickets symphony, synthetic...
The way to Ibao
The path through
a dense forest
Leads to
A clearing where palm fruits
Are gathered under the shade of a tree
of broad boughs overspreading...

There my mother old
On earth cold sits
Her gland mammary now flabby
Hang loose
Tossing to and fro with arms
Picking palms off its spines.

Oh mother!
The spines have pricked me
Am bleeding
Hear my blood speaks
Grievous like Abel's

My mother !
A snake has bitten me
Mamba? Viper? Adder?
I did not see the slither
Less the antedote proper,
My ankle is swollen
It swells with venom of vengeance.

Yeye O !
Am trapped in my path
My bones are broken
Crushed by the jaws
Of the iron gin
Who has snared me
In my field?

Where is my father?
He's not here, am fatherless
Now a stranger has snared
The Terra-fillius?

Come brothers
Set me free
Come for my hands are weak
Come, bring matchete
Kill this slither, an adder
Take care
don't tread on its tail
Take care
Let it not come nigh
Our dog is a prey.

Kill this adder
Burn the spines
Take the snare of strangers in our land.

I'm tired brothers
Bear me
I'm thirsty
Give me drink

Give me drink
of the aqua in the hollow
Scooped with ewe-iye...
Set me Free.

Odokoto; aqua in the hollow.

On that day
The day of big hunt
Me, my song, me
Kasina and Sakiru
Beat about the bush
Rousing the roes and bucks
From whence they'd lain

A lead shot my song
A lead shot did stray
From the hunter's gun
And through Kasina's shoulder had gone
A red-hot ember
Buried nigh his scapula

That day my song
I feared, I cried
My brother has died
"Carpals don't die
before the hand
Tarsals don't lie
dead in the land
While the foot is alive
And you, Kasina, must thrive..."

"Water quenches fire
Aqua-celestis severe drought
You Kasina, a Terra-fillius
This soil can't sup on your blood
You, Kasina, son of Ogun
He won't bath with your blood, eewo..."

"Your blood is bitter... Iwo
Tis gall to witches and wizards
You are untouchable
The enchantment of the wicked is useless
The son of Ore
Can't be offered a sacrifice to Ore"

And leaves did work
Charms, words proved efficacious
As the shot was extracted

I was there my song
Now it seem so long.

What have we done Oluigbo?
Where have we gone wrong Aresa?
Why are ye so cross
That you took him from us?
Took him in a lone hunt
Took him in a night hunt
Took him and we lorn
Took him now we mourn
Have the leaves gone asleep?
The charms and pronouncements too?

The falcon's returned
Where is the falconer?
Its the hound we see
Howling all night
Tale a tale
It's his shroud they see
Wandering, murmuring...

Its morn
The village is silent
So my song - quiet.

The falcon's returned
Where is the falconer?
Here are the hounds
Where is the hunter?

For long my song
For long so long
We've waived this evil

Grey was that day
A great, sad day
When the chief- hound
Sakara, chased a deer
Into the haunt of Ebora
A cave neath Atamara

The mythical hill
A queer chill
When you mount it

And we never knew
The deer Sakara's chased
Is dear to Ebora Atamara
That we hunt in the haunt
Of the spirit beings
That the games are claims
Of some guidance spirit
That the cave neath the hill
Is there saving safety

And Sakara chased
A prey into its lay
And turned the prey
Returned crawling
Returned drooling profusely
Status epileptus
Grand mal

Returned and dropped dead.
We had buried the dog
Seem to have pleased the gods...

But my song
All along
We only postponed this evil...