Yana Djin: Sheep

I saw as they led
my children away.
To slaughter.
One by one.
I saw the sharp terror
in the eyes of my daughter.
As the master grabbed her
by the scruff of the neck
with a hand — skillful and rough.
He severed her head
and laid it out
in the sun.
To dry.
I chewed on the grass.
Didn’t avert my eye
from her still-open eyes —
glossy and dead.
I said:
Daughter-sheep, they are people.
They know not what they do.
Their hearts are crowded
and pity doesn’t fit.
So, rest in peace, my daughter.
And may you be blessed
while they eat.

Yana Djin was born in 1969, in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1980, she emigrated to the United States where she studied philosophy. Her first book of poetry “Bits And Pieces of Conversations” was published in the US in 1994. In 2000, Yana Djin’s book of poetry (in English & Russian) “Inevitable” was published in Moscow. She lives in New York.

Copyright 2018 Yana Djin
.