[Tiv traditional poem with line-by-line translation and stanza commentary]
Uba Nguemoo
Kpehe shor ke kpya kpa doo ga
Uba Nguemoo
Kpehe shor ke kpya kpa doo ga
Yamuel Yashi a nongo amo shongi.
Translation / English rendering:
Uba Nguemo
I’ve divined into my pocket
but the result is not good. Uba Nguemo
I’ve divined into my pocket
but the result is not good.
So let Yamuel Yashi help me out
[Ageba kela section]:
Ageba kela chan korom songu
Hembamee yange telem malem tso
kendemo sha chan
Or kanan wundus atsan anan gema a oron aam.
we yo u kaa nena?
Ngula ka aie kwase wam Wamba Hough
Mo mzende sha hinda ior mnenge chan iwuha pir avom.
Wan Agodi ngom mo yo mngu or kpen
Wea nenge amo ga yo ku tesem war
Aliveoo mba wanyegh wua nor
Ior a yaan nor kpa ve ya
mo yo me da sor achanger ke wua
Wanchovor nan hanger bushi ga
Err Tyo ngi yemen gudu gudu
Mo kpa mngu van shin hua.
English Translation:
Ageba kela, poverty has slaughtered me.
I’m incapable. Since my father gave birth to me, he threw me into poverty.
A person leaves his own poverty and speaks of mine.
How is it with you?
It’s false my wife, daughter of Hough
I’ve travelled to people’s doors, and poverty has luxuriated, covering the mounds.
Daughter of Agodi, mother, me I’m a dead man
If you don’t see me, death has shown me my grave. Wanyegh clan has killed an elephant.
Let people eat elephants if they are eating.
For me I will go and look for small fish among the reeds. An orphan eats even Bushi.
Eii, the clan is marching on steady,
I too, I’m stealing on by the alley.
Tiv Traditional / Anonymous
EDITOR’S NOTE
Originally published in Nigeria Magazine on 01 Jan 1982, p. 24. This diplomatic transcription preserves the wording and lineation visible in the archived page.