I Am African

I am an African, Africa runs in my vein Like an endless river. Like an African, I eat. I reason like an African. I fall asleep under the auspices of the melodious flute And rise to dance to the hailing voice of the gangan of Ayangbami. I am an African And like an African I gulp down my palm-wine From the beautiful calabash. Under the mango tree When the sun has set I vie for supremacy over the "Ayo-Opon" I am African Though twenty wives like Ikubolaje my great grand father I do not have, Thirty children to till and sweep different farmlands I do not imagine, I thread with my agbada flapping in a pompous manner I am an African. My path has been carved to dance to the beat of the foreigners long before I journeyed down between her thighs from the house of Olodumare. The western ink and the lengthy feather that lie in front of my lamp, To African glorification I pledge to use. I am an African A man in my house No equal of woman That I'd provide shield for Under the hostile gaze of the pricking sun and the biting cold.