MEETINGS
For a long time
there have been meetings
of many men
for many days.
At the meetings
there is talking,
talking,
talking.
Some this way.
Some that way.
In the morning
when my father
leaves for meeting
he says to us,
"When I come here again
then I will know
if it is best
to have many sheep
or few sheep,
to use the land
or let it sleep."
But
when my father
comes home from meeting
he does not know
which talking-way to follow.
Tonight
when my father
came home from meeting
he just sat, looking
and looking.
My mother gave him coffee
and bread and mutton,
but my father just sat,
looking.
Then my mother
spoke to me.
She said,
"A meeting is like rain.
When there is little talk,
now and then,
here and there,
it is good.
It makes thoughts grow
as little rains make corn grow.
But big talk, too much,
is like a flood
taking things of long standing
before it."
My mother
said this to me,
but I think
she wanted my father
to hear it.
