The Cow and the Road

By

Obododimma Oha

Various Igbo highlife musicians have said it in their songs, but it is the special rendition by Sir Warrior that engages the attention of this article: the cow and the road:

E libe ụzọ,

Libe ehi,

Mụ ewere ụzọ,

Hapụ ehi.

E ribe ehi

E richaa ya.

Ụzọ ụzọ echi echi....

(If the road is put on a leash

The cow put on a leash

For me to choose out of the two,

I would choose the road

And leave the cow.

The cow could be eaten up completely

But the road, never!)

Indeed, both the cow and the road could come to an end. But the cow ends quicker. A road could be temporarily closed or permanently, but a replacement constructed. Not so with the cow. So, both are not exhaustible in the same way.

Sir Warrior in "Elu uwa" sings about his bewilderment in life. Those who think that life is like cowmeat are mistaken. It's inexhaustible like the road. This world seems to have no head and no tail. Life is a mystery.

Sir Warrior would like us to stop treating earthly life as we treat cowmeat. We cannot completely finish life. It's an unending road.

This life is strange. It cannot be compared to a cow. Even the path the cow makes may become a road eventually. That's one reason for us to be very careful in life.

This configuration of life as a road is very profound, indeed. The day of birth is not the beginning of the journey and death is not the end. The road stretches on. The end of the road is not in sight.

But there are roads, not just one. he road to Venus and the road to Plutoa The road to Putin is not the road to Zelensky. There are even roads in roads. 

Sir Warrior would pick the road and leave the cow. But he knows that the road may diverge. So that various voices would talk about the cow and the road differently.