The Ofi Press Magazine
International Poetry and Literature from Mexico City
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ORUKU TINDI TINDI* (2) Oruku tindi tindi tindi Oruku tindi tindi tindi I paint the world aloud With the rainbow of my song My canvas ripples with tones Hanging tremulous between the ears The sky is one brush high The paintbottle a pampered puddle Brimming with hints and howls And the unheard music of roaring waters Oruku tindi tindi tindi I yellow dawn’s river With the prophecy of my pee Meandering like a sighing old warrior Towards the dusken sea I hear the bushfowl’s raucous laughter In the savannah of my youth Fast, full-feathered, Beyond the reach of greedy guns Oruku tindi tindi tindi The elephant grass Has run out of tusks So tall, so imposing, It bends the wind to its will The patient eye it is That sees the nose The porridge of a thousand years May still burn the hasty finger Oruku tindi tindi tindi Smile, Ologuro** that the world May see the beauty of your soul Dance, chosen one, that I May behold the melody of your mind Like a little boy’s desire For a bird in the tree Like a sweetheart’s longing For a pearl on the ocean floor Oruku tindi tindi tindi Those who crave the egg Hardly know the pain of the hen Their thirst is so intense It leaves a dent in our river I live in that street of dawn Where the cock has a trumpet in its throat A feathery blast conjures up the sun And the day unfolds like a radiant flower Oruku tindi tindi tindi The rain has no water To wash its clothes The millipede mocks the race With its surfeit of legs
Chaos quakes into Cosmos A purple peace is born The Universe hides its clothes In the wardrobe of the Void
Oruku tindi tindi tindi Oruku tindi tindi tindi *Yoruba expression; no translatable meaning; used here for its sound and performance effect. ** Sweetheart | Oruku tindi tindi Versión al español: Fer de la Cruz Oruku tindi tindi tindi Oruku tindi tindi tindi Con este canto de arcoíris en mi garganta pinto el mundo Ondeo mi tela de matices en los balcones del oído Mi brocha llega de aquí al cielo bebiendo charcos de pintura alimentándose del viento con los brochazos de mi música
Oruku tindi tindi tindi Al tintineo del crepúsculo profetizado en la pipí tiño meandros al océano diciendo no y meando sí En tanto ríen las gallinetas en la sabana de mi infancia y resonando pleniplúmeas al evadirse de las balas Oruku tindi tindi tindi Mira la hierba de elefante que se ha quedado sin colmillos tan imponente y elegante doblando el viento de un soplido Sólo podrás ver tu nariz si tu visión no se impacienta Servido el plato hace mil años te puede aún quemar la lengua Oruku tindi tindi tindi Sonríe, negrita de mi vida que el mundo mire tu belleza Baila, Ologuro, mi elegida y yo contemple tu cadencia
Como ese niño que desea tomar el pájaro del árbol Como la amada que suspira la perla al fondo del océano Oruku tindi tindi tindi Aquel que busca comer huevo y en la gallina no repara Aquel que bebe tan sediento y sobre el río deja marca Vivo en la calle del crepúsculo en la que el gallo trompetea Su trompeteo conjura al sol que al retoñar nos asolea Oruku tindi tindi tindi Ya se le fue el agua a la lluvia ya no podré lavar la ropa Ya va el ciempiés a hacerles burla a los marchantes de la tropa Del Caos el Cosmos ha surgido Nace la paz teñida en púrpura Y en el ropero del Vacío el universo se desnuda Oruku tindi tindi tindi Oruku tindi tindi tindi
Image from: http://hombrepalito.blogspot.mx/
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Niyi Osundare (Ikere-Ekiti, Ondo State, 1947) read English language and literature at Ibadan, Leeds and Toronto Universities. He is professor and heads the English faculty at Ibadan University. In his country he is well known for his literary reviews, comments and columns.
Songs of the Marketplace (1983) mark his debut. For his collection The Eye of the Earth (1986) he was awarded both the poetry prize of the Association of Nigerian Authors and the Commonwealth Prize for Poetry. But he received other awards as well, such as the 1990 Noma Award - Africa's most prestigious literary prize.
Niyi Osundare's poetry holds many images and its language is fluid. He is very concerned with the fate of his continent and in quite a few poems he refers back to the days preceding colonization, when Africa still had an own identity. He does not do so out of nostalgia but in order to create a defence against today's alienation.