Song:   I come from a world where rivers sing a song

And every tree has a name

We love the stars, the rivers and the hills

And we know who made them all.

Come into my village

Feel at home my friend

We’ll make you pounded yam

While you sip palmwine

Come leave behind your pre-conceived ideas

Into our world of love…

Come with me friendly stranger

What you wish to teach we already know.

I stand upon the sacred hill of Olumo.

Here valiant warriors baited in unwary enemies

And routed them with a mighty shout,

“Oh holy rock, come once again

To the aid of your children!”

We bathe the rock face with blood;

Let this valley of decomposing bodies

Be our latest offering

To She who watches unseen.

We worship not the silent rock

But the guardian spirit who therein dwells.

Chant: Eni s’oju s’emu  (He who makes the eyes and the nose)

Orisa ni ma sin  (It is the divinity I will serve)

A da ni b’otiri  (He who creates as he wishes)

Orisa ni ma sin  (It is the divinity I will serve)

Eni to ran mi wa  ( He who sent me here)

Orisa ni ma sin  (It is the divinity I will serve)

Listen curious stranger

To the drumming and the singing.

We worship not the squat wooden image

But Orisa-nla

The great spirit who moulds every head.

Oh great divinity, I court your pleasure,

You smile upon a clan and every one is healthy,

You turn away your face

And incomplete joy is the lot of many a mother.

We have come to the grove

Dancing, all in your white of purity.

Your special messengers gleefully gyrate

With a permanent back-pack or a limp,

We have brought your fresh water of the early spring,

All your bloodless meals

Your snails, bitter kola…

We worship not the stone mound

But the great one

Who spread the sand of the earth

And led the way to a new home of beauty.

Come with me to the house of Orunmila

And Ifa, his all-knowing gift to the world

The palace of wisdom

Is but a simple homestead

The seat of knowledge

A tray of sacred palm kernels

Iwaju opon maagbo, eyin opon maagbo

olumu lotun, olokanran losi

Pay attention, oh ye divinities

Serving on both sides of the Almighty!

The gates of heaven are open

At the centre of the divination tray.

Ifa never lies,

Ifa always tells the truth,

The past, the present and the future,

When Ifa speaks good,

The children burst into a joyous song.

Ifa olokun a s’oro eni dayo  (Ifa who makes one happy)

Orunmila, great physician,

Heal all our infirmities,

Teach us the tenets of hygiene,

And the road to fulfillment,

To seek the joy of others

And be happy with our lot in the land of our fathers.

The Oracle never lies,

The Oracle is the truth,

The gates of heaven are open

At the centre of the divination tray.