ÀRÓ CIRCUMSTANCES

ÀRÓ CIRCUMSTANCES

There is an ancient Yoruba poem about Àró, the alien.

Listen, the translation is below the Yoruba original.

Mo gbinlá mi sóko

Mo gbinkàn mi sóko

Ewúrẹ́ Àró fi jẹ;

Àgùtàn Àró fi jẹ

Èmi ò mọ ohun Àró ní mo ṣe.

I planted okra on my farmland

I planted garden eggs on my farmland

The aliens’ goat ate it all up

The aliens’ sheep ate it all up

What wrong have I done to give aliens a refuge?

This is what is happening now to us.

What wrong have we committed

That the Aro is turning our forest reserves and our farms

Into a grazing field?