Afram

Summary

River, I am passing

Red River whose head lies in the mountains

I have pointed my face to the sea.

I am from Kwaforoamoa of old

Ɔdomankoma the Creator's time

I started not today

I walk on the way still

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

Red River that flows through red earth

I go over stones

I go over sand

I have traversed a long way

I have meandered and meandered

Nothing can stop me

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

I am passing at dawn

By sunrise I shall be on the way

Noon will bring travellers

To crowd my fords

When the rowers plead with me

I shall not stop to make them pass

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

I go over roots

I go over the depths

I bid it foam up before it foams

If you dare me and measure with your foot

I shall make you slip and go before me

A wayfarer companion is what I want

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

I am passing with my children

Set a basket trap

Or string in hooks

Neither of these to me is foam

There goes the Otidie fish

The mudfish sallies forth

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

I am overflowing your dams

If it is for Odom and lobsters

That you dam me up

You had better go home and rest,

Only the crab and the river snail

Deserve to be pitied

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

Ogyamma fruits are ripe, calling upon farmers to mark out their farms

New settlers have gone to start new farmsteads

The palm fronded shed on the bank calls me

The monkey has espied from the tree tops what is approaching

The eagle has seen afar through the telescope,

Civilisation and inventions ushering in calamity, but

River, I am passing.

River, I am passing

Let farm-goers pass on too

The forest is on yonder bank

If you fear the crossing, your farm will be in the grassland

I am diverting my tributaries and lagoons from you

If you do not cross, you have nothing but roots

You can drain my waters to catch the fish only when I dry up but

River, I am passing.