We are the children of Ani
The great mother of life
We are children swimming in the pool
Of her sacred rivers
We hop with the butterfly
Coo with the bird
Delight in the fragrance of flowers in bloom
We dig our feet deep in the sand
Play with ocean tides
Flap our arms against the wind
Pick up stones, wear or put them in jars
We climb tree branches
To perceive its secrets and wisdoms
Collected through the rings
Of time
We are not from here or there
We’ve existed before and forever will
We come time and time again
Because of love
And though we may be persecuted
Tried and refined by fire
We understand she is our friend
Together with water and air
We are the Kingdom of heaven
With all its riches buried within our hearts
We are the Queendom of earth
Come to manifestation
We are the children of Ani
The great mother of life
And our ammo is freedom
By Ebele Chizea
Odinani: The Sacred Arts & Sciences of the Igbo People 
Sister Ebele, this is fantastic!
Thank you!
Why in god’s name is her hair like that???
Are we now ashamed of our real African Goddess mother and
ashamed of African hair??
Do we secretly WISH that our Igbo mothers were White Women with
FLOWING European textured hair?
Is the author a Skin Bleacher or something?
Why are these images OK with us? Why is there not a single African mother
speaking up about the images we feed to our children?
The PHOTO ruins the whole purpose of the poem. Completely ruins it!
Kola Boof
The author had nothing to do with the image, it was me who added it, not because I feel that its a perfect representation but because its one of the few modern works of art that portray the Igbo Earth Mother. After more people learn about Ani and what she represents, we know that they will produce art that will portray her in a more appropriate manner.
Onyemobi,
Why not just post a photo of a real Igbo woman from an actual Igbo village?
This portrait is a disgrace! It looks nothing like the Igbo people and I doubt that
supporting it will lead “other future artists” to paint a more realistic representation.
If anything, she will probably get lighter with even straighter hair as the degradation
of African looks continues to grow unchecked.
I couldn’t enjoy the poem because of the insulting image and I am speaking for
many others who aren’t willing to speak up. It’s very “cartoonish” to see this image
portrayed as an ANCIENT Nigerian goddess.
You should have posted a photo of an Igbo woman working in the village so
that it would actually mean something to us–to all Africans.
I see what you are saying. Thanks for pointing that out. Take a look at the new pix.
OH MY GOD!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!
This is so beautiful Onyemobi!!!
God Bless you, Beautiful Igbo!
I love this now! Posting to my FACEBOOK!
Kola!
Sidebar, Love your autobio Diary
Bro I’m glad you changed the pic too lmao
Igbo kwenu forever!
I love this song!!!!!! 🙂
The prints both representations: where can I purchase them ?
Please please PLEASE always credit the artists. Who are the artists? The one on the bottom looks like a Josephine Wall piece…What about the other?
Lol this is Me (the son of Ani)
I am Ani
I breath Ani
Ani gave life to me
Lovely piece of poetry by Ebele thumbs up!!! Its thus make me proud of been the son of Ani.