Jan Hansen Poet Blank verse

The Silence of the Ewes

The silence of the ewes


He helped run them up seven sheep for the slaughter
got them into the truck, taking them to the abattoir
in a pen outside, they waited and bleated nonstop
Dim-witted perhaps, they didn’t expect a happy result.
In circles, they ran, but one by one, caught and
brought into slaughter.
When it was the last sheep’s turn to go into
the room of lifeblood and gloating men in caps 
the sheep had stopped bleating following its
captors in and offered no resistance.
The men in bloodied overalls were silent 
this was unexpected, yet the axe fell 
In the night, the boy had a dream he had stopped
the slaughter of the seventh sheep, together
boy and animal walked to a green field 
to a place where the sun does not ever set and
 the sky is deep azure.
The boy held on to this dream for a long time
believing it to be the truth, but finally, he had to let go
He was as guilty as the men with gore on their hands
simply by being of the humankind

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