Areogun
(Osi Ilorin, Opin, Ekiti region, ca. 1880-1954).
Photograph by Kevin Carroll, ca. 1948-54.

Praise poetry for Areogun (Osi Ilorin, Opin, Ekiti region, ca. 1880-1954)

Dada, who has Ogun's money to spend.
The end of his cloth is knotted like an infant's
umbilical cord.
One who awakens to a comfortable life in Igbeyin.
Son of those who possess palm oil.
The expert, whose sculptures dazzle the beholder.
He made his reputation in Ijero.
He confronts the wicked bravely.
He carved and was given a horse.
Dada, who knows how to dance.
He carves hard wood as though he were carving a soft
calabash.
He fed his younger children as though he were feeding
an older person.
The fear of death does not make having a goiter
pleasant.
The fear of death makes the removal of the goiter
frightening.
If one wants to remove it, he must cut himself and
risk death.
Iremogun [Ogun], who turns wood into money.
Iremogun consulted divination at Ire.
Iremogun, native of the town where people are
well fed.
Oye Olufadi [a title]. Obesity does not befit a man.
The senior chieftaincy title was sold to them at Ire.
Son of those who came early [whose ancestors were
early settlers]. Natives of Ilagbede [home of
blacksmiths].
Iremogun consulted Odu at Ire.
It was a quarrel that took Ogun to Iresa.
What has happened to the Ogun house of the
blacksmiths?
Iremogun, native of the town where people are
well fed.
It is not good for a man to wake up in the morning
and remain at home.
But it is appropriate for Olufadi to do it [for he is a
carver].
Son of those who prosper from little.
Son of those who cough like elephants [speak with authority].
Iremogun, native of the town where people are well fed.
One whose mother lived to see his greatness [as a
carver].
One who knows how to carve appropriately for kings,
Who carved for the Owa and gained favor.
Son of those who are wily.
Son of those who worship Oyegbe [a local hill deity],
and do not worship falsely.
As in a favorable divination, he has nothing to hide.

[From Rowland Abiodun, Henry J. Drewal, and John Pemberton III, eds., The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts (The Smithsonian Institution, 1994): 121]

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