Letter To 'ajike' The Maiden Poem by Stanley Oguh

Many are the stars in the sky
You my love out shines them all.
Ajike, it's you that paints my heart's garden
It's your smile that gives life to it flowers.
Love flew on the wings of time
And it finds us at the rocky grounds of Ado-Ekiti.
Adunni, it was your beauty that blew my heart
Your smile ajike takes away my ability to speak.
There's something about you ajike
Something special about you omo asake.
Not too delicate for a queen
Yet not too daring for a princess.
Your legs abeni moves with elegance and grace
The earth adores it when you walk.
Idunnu mi, My eyes finds joy in your smile
Just as I found love in your eyes.
Awelewa, it's your beauty that amazes me the most
When I saw you, I thought you were Yeye's first daughter.
Your feet ajike
They're not too tender to dance the bata dance
Not too firm to kneel to blend pepper with the olo ata.
I want to have a life with you idunnu mi
Come to my home ajike; be my bride
Olomi, Come and teach my pots how to make good soup.
Let me taste our love
From those morsels of affection you will make.
Come and make my home and teach our daughters how to make efo riro
Come lets build a family And teach our sons how to greet like we were taught.
Ayunfe, let us ride on the wings of our heritage
And showcase the beauty of our culture.
I might be from the east
But I want to take a walk with you to the feet of Olosunta
So we could listen to the earth therein.
I would love to see the beauty of Oduduwa's staff
With you of course, when we go visiting the ooni of great Ife.
I would take a tour with you to the Alaafin‘s palace
And say hello to the emperor of the oyo empire.
And when we are done
We would step onto the rocky Ado-Ekiti.
The very origin of our love story
And listen to ewi's ewi at Udiroko.
And when we're tired ajike
And my eyes too weak to see your wrinkled face.
It will still be you and I on our dying bed
Holding hands; waiting for the transit call.
Into the imperiality of Olodumare's kingdom
Where our love will never see the end line of time.


#Note
'Ajike' is a Yoruba-given name meaning 'The person one wakes up (daily) to pamper'
'adunni' means 'One whose possession is fought/sort for'
'omo asake' means 'The son/daughter of one selected to pamper'
'idunnu mi' means my happiness
'awelewa' means 'one who is bathed with beauty'
'olo ata' is the traditional grindding stone
'bata' is a traditional dance in yorubaland
'olomi' means 'My forever-young-looking one'
'abeni' is a Yoruba-given name meaning 'One who ownership is pled for'
'ayunfe' meaning 'One who is selected to be loved'
'efo riro' is a type of soup in yoruba
'yeye' means 'the queen'
'ewi' is spoken proverbs in yoruba dialect
'Olodumare' means 'Supreme God in the Yoruba pantheon'.