Miriam Van hee (Belgium)

​the prodigal son
 
first we heard voices, then we
saw it, two men trying to catch a sheep
on the other side of the valley
we wondered  if anyone ever
came here, so far from the village
 
they managed to turn the unruly animal
on its back, they tied its legs together
and what seemed strangest was that it
didn’t make a sound, one man stayed with it and the other
slowly drove a small van across the uneven grass
towards them, you could guess
what they were thinking, and their curses,
how the sheep would catch it, and the violence
 
broke our day, for a long time we could still see
the car winding its way along the road, then
we walked on, in silence, a
radiant sky weighed on the land


 Translated from the Dutch by Judith Wilkinson

source text: Miriam Van hee, Ook daar valt het licht, De Bezige Bij 2013