Don’t Snatch Àbèní

I cannot handle farming,
I am lazy,
I cannot hunt small games,
My wife has matured,
I do not have money!
The owner of twenty slaves must not take her,
The master of thirty servants must not snatch her.
Don’t snatch Abèní,
Don’t snatch my woman.
He that snatches the wife of the lazy man snatches trouble,
If it were the rich man’s wife,
He could marry another instead.
It is the stirring about that kills the pestle
I will recount the story in Adó
I will recount the story in Ede
I will report in Ìgbàrà Òkè
I will report up to Ìbàdàn.
Abèní does not want money,
Abèní does not want clothes:
The words of my mouth are soothing to Abèní
The mouth of the wealthy cannot be as soothing.
I-the-one-with-honeysweet-voice,
The-smooth-sieving-lips.
I, the one that speaks to thrill the young,
The-thought-provoking-speaker for the old.
I have recited poetry in small settlement
I recited in the land of Aké
I recited in Ibàdàn
As an indigene.
Olúbàdàn actually came to watch me.
I recited in Lagos,
They couldn’t make fun of me.
I recited poetry for the landlords,
They gave me a house to stay,
I recited poetry for the owners of the path,
They bequeathed me with the road.
It is poetry that I also recited,
They said that I wanted to snatch their woman.
We have wife,
We have wife.
It is poetry that you heard and you adjusted your headgear!
Abèní is enough for me.
If it is a rich man that wants to snatch Abèní,
He will fritter away his money,
If it is a chief that wants to snatch Abèní,
He will use his crown as collateral for a debt,
The priest that wants to snatch Abèní,
He will become an adversary of God,
It is me, Àjàní, that says so,
I am not saying this timorously.
Words will not tear my lips,
have been saying this for a long time!