This is another Yorùbá Ìjálá (hunting poem) that was first translated into English in Ulli Beier’s Black Orpheus magazine.
You cannot dispute the forest with a rat.
You cannot dispute the savannah with the buffalo…
Prayers Uttered by the Zezuru at Mabwe aDziva
A prayer to Mwari (God) and the ancestors at a time of drought among the Zezuru, one of the groups making up the Shona people of southern and south-eastern Zimbabwe.
Tovela, our great father,
We have a petition for rain…
Shava Museyamwa
Another version of the praises of the Shava clan of the Shona people of Zimbabwe (see also Thank You, Shava). Clan Praises are addressed not to specific kings as in the Zulu tradition, but to the whole lineage. At the heart of the praise is the totem associated with the clan, in this case the Eland. Museyamwa is one of the dynasties within the clan.
Thank you, my Support!
Thank you eland, my dear tawny one…
Incantation
The Yorùbá believe in Atunwa, reincarnation within the family. Yorùbá funeral songs such as Slowly the Muddy Pool Becomes a River and Where are You Now? incorporate the symbolism of loved ones returning in other forms. This poem is a grief-stricken Yorùbá prayer, inviting a dead child to be born again.
Death catches the hunter with pain.
Eshu catches the herbalist in a sack…
Thank You, Shava
Praises of the Shava clan of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. Clan Praises are addressed not to specific kings, as in the Zulu tradition, but to the whole lineage. Every member of the clan deserves praise after rendering some important service.
Thank you, Shava,
The Great Eland bull, The Runaway.
At a Thrift-Club Feast
A thrift-club, known in Yorùbá as Esusu, is a voluntary society which helps its members to raise money. Every member pays a fixed sum of money regularly at a fixed time (say every fifth or ninth day).
All you persons of prestige here gathered together,
I greet the woodcock with its characteristic ‘mese’ cry…