en

13644

Logo lyrikline pure Logo lyrikline claim
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Donation
Login
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Donation
  • deutsch
  • english
  • français
  • slovenščina
  • العربية
  • русский
  • español
  • português
  • 中文
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
all results
  • Poets
    • A-Z
    • by languages
    • by countries
    • All
  • Poems
    • by languages
    • in translation
    • Categories
    • All
  • Translators
    • A-Z
  • Translations
    • A-Z
  • NEW
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Translations
Logo lyrikline pure Logo lyrikline claim
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
all results
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Donation
  • deutsch
  • english
  • français
  • slovenščina
  • العربية
  • русский
  • español
  • português
  • 中文
  • Poets
    • new on Lyrikline
    • A-Z 
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • X
      • Y
      • Z
    • by languages 
      • afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        cree
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • by countries 
      • Afghanistan
        Albania
        Algeria
        Andorra
        Angola
        Argentina
        Armenia
        Australia
        Austria
        Bahrain
        Bangladesh
        Belarus
        Belgium
        Bolivia
        Bosnia and Herzegovina
        Botswana
        Brazil
        Bulgaria
        Burundi
        Cambodia
        Canada
        Chile
        China
        Colombia
        Congo - Kinshasa
        Costa Rica
        Croatia
        Cuba
        Cyprus
        Czech Republic
        Côte d’Ivoire
        Denmark
        Dominican Republic
        Egypt
        Estonia
        Ethiopia
        Finland
        France
        Georgia
        Germany
        Ghana
        Greece
        Greenland
        Guatemala
        Guinea-Bissau
        Haiti
        Honduras
        Hungary
        Iceland
        India
        Indonesia
        Iran
        Iraq
        Ireland
        Israel
        Italy
        Jamaica
        Japan
        Kenya
        Kuwait
        Latvia
        Lebanon
        Libya
        Lithuania
        Luxembourg
        Macedonia
        Malawi
        Malaysia
        Malta
        Martinique
        Mexico
        Moldova
        Montenegro
        Morocco
        Mozambique
        Myanmar [Burma]
        Netherlands
        New Zealand
        Nigeria
        Norway
        Oman
        Pakistan
        Palestinian Territories
        Paraguay
        Peru
        Poland
        Portugal
        Puerto Rico
        Romania
        Russia
        Saint Lucia
        Saudi Arabia
        Senegal
        Serbia
        Singapore
        Slovakia
        Slovenia
        Somalia
        South Africa
        South Korea
        Spain
        Sri Lanka
        Sweden
        Switzerland
        Syria
        São Tomé and Príncipe
        Taiwan
        Trinidad and Tobago
        Tunisia
        Turkey
        Ukraine
        United Arab Emirates
        United Kingdom
        United States
        Uruguay
        Uzbekistan
        Venezuela
        Vietnam
        Yemen
        Zambia
        Zimbabwe
  • Poems
    • new on Lyrikline
    • by languages 
      • afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        arawak
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        cree
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        maori
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        tumbuka
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        western frisian
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • in translation 
      • abkhazian
        afar
        afrikaans
        albanian
        arabic
        araucanian
        armenian
        assamese
        azerbaijani
        bashkir
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        berber
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        buriat
        catalan
        chechen
        chinese
        chuvash
        corsican
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        duala
        dutch
        english
        esperanto
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        haitian
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalmyk
        kannada
        kashmiri
        kazakh
        kirghiz
        korean
        kumyk
        kurdish
        latin
        latvian
        lezghian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        mayan language
        mongolian
        nepali
        norwegian
        occitan
        oriya
        ossetic
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        sanskrit
        sardinian
        scots
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        swiss german
        tajik
        tamil
        tatar
        telugu
        tetum
        turkish
        turkmen
        udmurt
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        yakut
        yiddish
    • genres & aspects
      • experimental poetry
      • concrete poetry
      • sound poetry
      • visual poetry
      • poetry projects
      • series / cycles
      • poetry for children
      • humorous poetry
      • narrative poetry
      • poems on poetics
      • Ecopoetry / Nature writing
      • political poetry
      • erotic poetry
      • dialect
      • performance
      • with music / sound
      • spoken word / Rap
      • translingual / hybrid / Pidgin
    • poetic forms & terms
      • ode
      • haiku / tanka
      • collage / montage
      • Dinggedicht
      • prose poem
      • rhymed stanza
      • renshi
      • sestina
      • sonnet
      • villanelle
      • ghazal
      • ballad
    • issues
      • society
        • identity (collective)
        • traditions
        • homeland
        • cities & urban life
        • history
        • politics
        • discrimination / racism
        • war
        • exile
        • economy
        • social critique / cultural criticism
      • life & relationship
        • family
          • birth
          • child
          • mother
          • father
        • infancy & youth
        • age
        • memory
        • identity (personal)
        • gender & sexuality
          • woman
          • man
          • sex / eroticism
          • homosexuality
        • friendship
        • love
        • marriage
        • relationship conflict
        • work
        • illness
        • body
        • violence
        • loss & separation
        • death / grief
        • funeral
        • religion / sprituality
        • Dream
        • travel
        • time
        • eating & drinking
        • alcohol & drugs
      • culture & science
        • architecture & design
        • poetry & poets
        • art & painting
        • literature & reading
        • fairy-tales & legends
        • medicine & science
        • music
        • mythology
        • philosophy
        • photography & film
        • popular culture
        • language
        • theater & dance
        • writing (poetry)
      • nature
        • spring
        • summer
        • fall
        • winter
        • landscape
        • water
        • animals
        • plants
    • Rhythmic Patterns
      • Parlando
      • Cadence
      • Variable Foot
      • Sprung Rhythm
      • Syncopations
      • Rubato
      • Permutations
      • Gestic rhythm (= Stressed Enjambements)
      • Cut-ups
      • Ellipses
      • Syllabic decompositions
      • Lettristic Decomposition
  • Translators
    • A-Z 
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • X
      • Y
      • Z
    • Translates from 
      • afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        arawak
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        cree
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        maori
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        tumbuka
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        western frisian
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • Translates into 
      • abkhazian
        afar
        afrikaans
        albanian
        arabic
        araucanian
        armenian
        assamese
        azerbaijani
        bashkir
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        berber
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        buriat
        catalan
        chechen
        chinese
        chuvash
        corsican
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        duala
        dutch
        english
        esperanto
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        haitian
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalmyk
        kannada
        kashmiri
        kazakh
        kirghiz
        korean
        kumyk
        kurdish
        latin
        latvian
        lezghian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        mayan language
        mongolian
        nepali
        norwegian
        occitan
        oriya
        ossetic
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        sanskrit
        sardinian
        scots
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        swiss german
        tajik
        tamil
        tatar
        telugu
        tetum
        turkish
        turkmen
        udmurt
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        yakut
        yiddish
  • Translations
    • new on Lyrikline
    • by source languages 
        afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        arawak
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        maori
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        tumbuka
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        western frisian
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • by target languages 
      • abkhazian
        afar
        afrikaans
        albanian
        arabic
        araucanian
        armenian
        assamese
        azerbaijani
        bashkir
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        berber
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        buriat
        catalan
        chechen
        chinese
        chuvash
        corsican
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        duala
        dutch
        english
        esperanto
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        haitian
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalmyk
        kannada
        kashmiri
        kazakh
        kirghiz
        korean
        kumyk
        kurdish
        latin
        latvian
        lezghian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        mayan language
        mongolian
        nepali
        norwegian
        occitan
        oriya
        ossetic
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        sanskrit
        sardinian
        scots
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        swiss german
        tajik
        tamil
        tatar
        telugu
        tetum
        turkish
        turkmen
        udmurt
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        yakut
        yiddish
Login
  •  

Niyi Osundare

THE LEADER AND THE LED

  • 1 INVOCATIONS OF THE WORD | Translations: de
  • 2 SOME DAYS | Translations: de
  • 3 BERLIN 1884/5 | Translations: de
  • 4 DEEP GREEN | Translations: de
  • 5 THE LEADER AND THE LED | Translations: de
  • 6 ALUPAYIDA* | Translations: de
  • 7 IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE | Translations: de
Language: english
Translations: german (DER ANFÜHRER UND DIE GEFÜHRTEN)
  • play
  • pause
Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.

THE LEADER AND THE LED

The Lion stakes his claim
To the leadership of the pack

But the Antelopes remember
The ferocious pounce of his paws

The hyena says the crown is made for him
But the Impalas shudder at his lethal appetite

The Giraffe craves a place in the front
But his eyes are too far from the ground

When the Zebra says it’s his right to lead
The pack points to the duplicity of his stripes

The Elephant trudges into the power tussle
But its colleagues dread his trampling feet

The warthog is too ugly
The rhino too riotous

And the pack thrashes around
Like a snake without a head

“Our need calls for a hybrid of habits”,
Proclaims the Forest Sage,

“A little bit of a Lion
A little bit of a Lamb

Tough like a tiger, compassionate like a doe
Transparent like a river, mysterious like a lake

A leader who knows how to follow
Followers mindful of their right to lead”

© Niyi Osundare
From: unpublished
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, 2016

Translations:

Language: german

DER ANFÜHRER UND DIE GEFÜHRTEN

Der Löwe behauptet seinen Anspruch
Auf die Rudelführerschaft

Aber die Antilope erinnert sich
An den heftigen Schlag seiner Pranken

Die Krone ist für ihn gemacht, sagt die Hyäne
Doch sein tödlicher Appetit lässt die Impalas erschaudern

Die Giraffen verlangt einen Platz ganz vorne
Aber ihre Augen sind zuweit von der Erde entfernt

Wenn das Zebra sagt, es sei sein Recht zu führen
Weist das Rudel auf seine doppeldeutigen Streifen

Der Elefant tritt ein das Machtgerangel
Aber seine Kollegen ängstigt sein trampelnder Fuß

Das Warzenschwein ist zu hässlich
Das Nashorn neigt zur Gewalt

Und wie eine kopflose Schlange
Schlägt das Rudel auf sich ein

„Unsere Notlage fordert einen hybriden Habitus“,
Verkündet der Weise des Walds,

„Ein Bisschen vom Löwen
Ein Bisschen vom Lamm

Stark wie ein Tiger, mitfühlend wie eine Häsin
Transparent wie ein Fluss, geheimnisvoll wie ein See

Ein Anführer, der weiß wie man folgt
Folgende, auf ihr Recht zu führen bedacht“

Übertragen von Monika Rinck
previous poem
   (DEEP GREEN)
5 / 7
nächstes Gedicht
(ALUPAYIDA*)   
listen to all poems

Niyi Osundare

photo © gezett.de
* 12.03.1947, Ikere-Ekiti, Nigeria
lives in: New Orleans, USA + Ibadan, Nigeria

Niyi Osundare (born in Ikere-Ekiti, Nigeria, in 1947) is an essayist, writer for the theatre, lecturer and one of Nigeria's most celebrated poet. He has published 18 volumes of poetry, several plays, essays, articles and criticism. Previously a professor at the English Institute of the University of Ibadan, he is currently Distinguished Professor of English at the University of New Orleans.

His poetry combines concepts and traditions of the Yoruba culture with Marxist approaches. He uses mythological concepts to underline his struggle against social injustice and inhumanity.
Niyi Osundare’s prizes include the 1991 Noma Award, the 1998 Fonlon-Nichols Award and the 2008 Tchicaya U Tam’si Award for African Poetry, one of Africa’s most prestigious poetry prizes. In 2014 he received the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award, Nigeria’s highest distinction for outstanding creative and intellectual achievement.

 photo © gezett.de
Publications
  • Songs from the Marketplace

    1983

  • Village Voices

    1984

  • The Eye of the Earth

    1986

  • Moonsongs

    1988

  • Waiting Laughters

    1990

  • Selected Poems

    1992

  • Midlife

    1993

  • Songs of the Season

    1999

  • Thread in the Loom: Essays on African Literature and Culture

    2002

  • The Word is an Egg

    2002

  • The State Visit

    play

    2002

  • Pages from the Book of the Sun: New and Selected Poems

    2002

  • The Emerging Perspectives on Niyi Osundare

    2003

  • Early Birds

    2004

  • Two Plays

    2005

  • Not My Business

    2005

  • Tender Moments:Love Poems

    2006

  • City Without People: The Katrina Poems

    2011

  • Random Blues

    2011

Awards
  • 1968 Western State of Nigeria Poetry Competition - First Prize

  • 1986 Overall Commonwealth Poetry Prize - Joint-Winner

  • 1986 Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize

  • 1991 Noma Award

  • 1991 Kwanza Award

  • 1994 Cadbury/ANA Poetry Prize

  • 1998 Fonlon-Nichols Award

  • 2004 The Spectrum Books Award for The Eye of the Earth

  • 2008 Tchicaya U Tam’si Award for African Poetry

  • 2014 Nigerian National Order of Merit Award

Remember poem / Add to List

all public lists

Poem already on my list

If you want to remember or list a poem, become a community member.

Login/Register now
more poets from Nigeria more poems in english Translations into english

Random poem

PUSH!

gedicht page complete: (0,864s)
  • About
  • Newsletter
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Produced by
  • privacy
lyrikline is created by Haus für Posie in cooperation with its international network of lyrikline partners
Poets Translators