Àṣà!
The mouth piece of our fathers,
Why have you been a coward
Who ran away humiliated and pale?
This valley now belongs to a stranger,
Haven’t you been abused by failure?
Àṣà
Have you so neglected
Those days when our fathers were staff of dignity
And our mothers were symbols of purity?
When you took a stroll along naked paths
With the teenagers of their age?
Àṣà
Do not forget
That the clouds had no cause to grumble
For their eyesight couldn’t make them stumble,
But what fascination is it
That you rest your fortune on deserted mat,
Leaving us to tread on this barren aisle alone?
Enlightenment is hung on our walls fate,
See Awelewa, she is wrecked by your absence,
Adeleke has pledged faithfulness to treason, why?
Because his soul was broken
By his crave for awele’s naked thighs.
Who shall we blame?
Civilization or you “culture”?
Àṣà
Do not let go of your destiny,
Our age can refurbish your crushed identity.
Look beneath that cocoa tree,
See those murderers, They shall strangle her,
And they shall fabricate a futile factory
Upon that feeble land.
Àṣà
If you do not return,
I shall not groan
For if africa remains civilization’s slave,
Its your fault, for you’d rather stare than to save.
Asa this is your destiny, work it out!
*Àṣà – yoruba word for culture
Wow…I so love traditional poems