Return

When you were born,
he was told,
your parents regarded your countenance
so hideous
that they became careless
of your needs.

Though a son,
you were left dirty and exposed
and survived only because of
your own sturdiness
and the scraps that
your sister snuck to you at night.

That is how you came to be mine.
For you I paid
a sheepskin
and a bundle of wood
for the evening fire.

When we left at morn
your sister stood crying
grieving
alone to the side
hushed by your father
who kept the sheepskin
for his night’s warmth.

The big ugly man sat brooding by the fire
thinking back on those words
as he sat with his thick cloak about him
slaves tending the coals
his army guarding his encampment.

When he had returned to the land of his birth
he had spared his sister
and her man
and her child
but none other
than those few who managed to flee in time.

And when they left come morn
his sister again stood weeping
grieving
alone to the side.


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