“I shall come after Ogun must have left
Come, I shall, after Ogun must have cleared
 the road for my propitious legs
to tread upon: god of steel and iron.
 Planted feet in rituals of natural childbirth
and theocracy.
I shall come having seen the rays
caressing my windowless abode.

Do not douse my longing by temporizing,
for as you know procrastination is the
thief of time,
As for Ogun, he’ll do all within his
indispensable being to prepare the road
for his earthbound homer.

Ogun is not supposed to fail, for if he
fails; the whole world will stumble:
the scion of Ile-Ife must have failed.

Ogun, clear the road
for me
in my journeys, day and night.
On my way to fetch water,
clear the road
for me.
On my way to fetch firewood,
clear the road
for me.
On my way to fish
clear the road
for me.
On my way to farm,
clear the road
for me.
On my way to gather fruits/snails,
clear the road
for me.
On the way to hunt the wild,
clear the road
for me.
On the way to the groves or shrines,
clear the road
for me.
On the way to the thresholds of my
kith and kin,
clear the road
for me.
On the way to the virgin dream
clear the road
for me.

Ogun, fend for me
whenever my mouth longs for a munch
and the stomach cries for a fill.

Blenching like a beanstalk
befor a fire
Fortified with bravado like a lion
clear the road
for me.
Eyes; radiant, beaming,
Flushed with joy coursing
to the apogee, blissful!
Or
Sorrowful; eyes suffused with tears
clear the road
for me.
On my way to the market,
Buy or sell or both,
clear the road
for me.

Ogun, clear the road for me
during the hot harmattan Dry Season
perspiring like a lidded pepper-soup
pot on fire
During the rainy season
drenched to the skin like a chick
in a downpour
clear the road
for me.

Machete, sheathed for peace
unsheathed for danger.
Ogun, clear the road for me whenever
the road is blind or spiky;
whenever the road is treacherous
and famished for blood.
Ogun, give me your dexterity
in all instruments pertaining to
steel and iron.”
-Yemi Ogunyemi, from his poem “Covenant of the Earth”