Nínú Ọgbà Ayọ̀ from In the Garden of Joy

Nínú Ọgbà Ayọ̀

Ọgbà àjàrà ayọ̀ la wà yìí
Dè mí kí n má lè rọ́nà yí
Tilẹ̀kùn ọgbà àjàrà
Kí nwọn ó máa gbẹ́kùlé wàrà.
Kàn’lù ìfẹ́ sí mi
Kí n jó dùndún ìfẹ́ mọ́jú
Ràdò ìfẹ́ bò mí
Má jẹ̀ẹ́ n ké’gbe òtútù.
 
Bẹ́ẹ̀ bá wá’únjẹ wọ́gbà yìí wá
Afẹ́fẹ́ ìfẹ́ leè yó’kùn-un wa
Báà wẹ̀ lógún ọdún
Omi ìfẹ́ le wẹ̀ wá nù
Báà kọ́ yààrá ńlá
Ìfẹ́ ń ṣe yààrá bò wá
Kóṣùpá ìfẹ́ ó máa ràn lọ́dọ̀ọ wa
Ká pèjì pọ̀
Ká fi fẹ́ná ìfẹ́ jò.
 

from In the Garden of Joy

We are in the vineyard of bliss
Hold me here so I can’t leave
Close the vineyard gate
So they can marvel from far away
Beat the drum of love for me
Let me dance until light
With the blanket of love cover me
Don’t let me suffer the freezing night.
 
If you’re not looking for food here
The breeze of love alone will fill you.
If we didn’t bathe for twenty years
The water of love would wash us clean.
If we didn’t build ourselves a home
Love would come and shelter us
With moonlight all around
Let our bodies entwine 
And bring the fire to life.  
 

In the Garden of Joy

We are in the vineyard of joy
Tie me down so I can’t find this way
Close the door to the vineyard
So I can enjoy the view of wonder from my yard.
Beat the drum of love to me
So I can dance the sweetness of joy until morning
Cover me with the blanket of love
So I don’t cry of the freezing cold.
 
If you come into this garden for food
Only the breeze of love with fill our stomach.
If we bathe for twenty years
The water of love can wash us clean.
If we build a big wide room
Love would become a room over us
So that the moonlight of love might shine around us
Let us add two together
So we can blow alight the fire of love.
 

Kọ́lá, our guest translator, explained to the group that this was an unusual poem in the poet’s oeuvre, as it rhymed. Most of Túbọ̀sún Ọládàpọ̀’s work was oral poetry that was spoken and recorded for distribution on LPs, often accompanied by music and singing. In the session, Kọ́lá, played some of this for us so that we understood how much this seemingly formal and contemplative poem deviated in sound and feel when he read it aloud.

We tried to retain elements of rhyme, as it so unusually pronounced in the original, yet we were aware of the danger, in English, that the poem might sound too twee, a little too much like a greetings card. In some sense, the rhyme functioned in an opposing way in the two cultures – making it seem awkwardly traditional in English where, in Yoruba, it sounded formally experimental.

These are the first two stanzas of a four stanza poem.

Edward Doegar, Commissioning Editor

Original Poem by

Túbọ̀sún Ọládàpọ̀

Translated by

Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Yoruba

Country

Nigeria