Waiting For The Future To Go Away

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Let me see, what was Snake saying?

Ok, I will tell you.

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1


Ogun kills on the right & destroys on the right
Ogun kills on the left & destroys on the left
Ogun kills suddenly in the house & suddenly in the field
Ogun kills the child with the iron with which it plays
Ogun kills in silence
Ogun kills the thief & the owner of the stolen goods
Ogun kills the owner of the slave--
& the slave runs away
Ogun kills the owner of the house
& paints the hearth with his blood
Ogun is the death who pursues a child
until it runs into the bush
Ogun is the needle that pricks at both ends
Ogun has water but he washes in blood


2

Ogun sacrifices an elephant to his head
Master of iron, head of warriors
Ogun, great chief of robbers
Ogun wears a bloody cap
Ogun has four hundred wives
& one thousand four hundred children
Ogun the fire that sweeps the forest
Ogun's laughter is no joke
Ogun eats two hundred earth worms & does not vomit



3

Ogun has many gowns, he gives them all to the beggars
He gives one to the woodcock--
the woodcock dyes it indigo
He gives one to the coucal--
the coucal dyes it in camwood
He gives one to the cattle egret--
the cattle egret leaves it white

Ogun is not like something you can throw into your cap
Do you think you can put on your cap
& walk away with him?

Ogun scatters his enemies
When the butterflies arrive at the place
where the cheetah shits
they scatter in all directions.

The light shining on Ogun's face is not easy to behold
Ogun, let me not see the red of your eye


(Yoruba)
                                                                            
Technicians of the Sacred
pgs 164-165


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That is our prayer for today.



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Namaste.



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