Osa-Obara

"Cowards surrender to misery"
cast for Calabash, on the day
that he was depending on women
and on small children.
Oh yes, they told him to sacrifice
a pigeon, a hen and cowries,
on behalf of not being left alone
by those who were his admirers
in his days of former glory.
Calabash listened, but
did not offer.

"Osa returns fast after having run away,
he returns to his home swiftly.
You there! Come back quickly!
A small child must run away fast
from an eesin farm.
You there! Come back quickly!"
Prepare ewe by splitting six-lobed kola,
take six white eesin-leaves,
write Osa-Obara in the iyerosun
on the Ifa tray.
Then chant out loud
the incantation I gave you, inserting
the name of the runaway person.
Then sprinkle some iyerosun
on the eesin leaf, with one
of the six lobes of kola, and take this
to the Eshu who lives
outside the town gate.
You will repeat this six times, this
making sense, on account
of there being six lobes of kola.
This is to bring the runaway home.
The pleasant thing about this Ifa is that,
how far the runaway may be, he cannot
help hearing his name, when this
is chanted in the incantation.
Eesin leaf, piece of kola nut,
a little bit of iyerosun...
six times used, is enough
to satisfactorily finish this operation.
After you have done your thing,
lubricate Eshu with some generous oil.