In the butcher's hut next to the halal meat shop,
identical twin lambs
were hiding from each other, smelling their mother's scent.
In front of one of them, the butcher said "Bismillah" and
cut the other.
Both of them groaned.
The surviving lamb
refused both grass and water.
The twin lamb bleated restlessly, looking for its lamb.
As if trying to help its mother -
like a suckling -
it bleated, banging its head against the iron bars of the hut.
And by this time the mother
had been bleating for a day or two.
She became pregnant again to give birth to new victims.
The butcher called the lamb seller
- Why did you sell me this sick lamb, you scoundrel?
The butcher was a man of God.
He would not slaughter a head without saying bismillah.
The shop owner was also a man of God and every year on Eid al-Adha he would distribute one or two pieces of old meat to his neighbors.
The shop was advertised as a "halal meat shop".
These shops supposedly sold only halal meat.
Of the participants in this poem, only the telephone is called the work of the devil. The author is considered an infidel in this country.
Feb 21
Feb 21, 2026 at 10:15 PM UTC
In the butcher's hut next to the halal meat shop,
identical twin lambs
were hiding from each other, smelling their mother's scent.
In front of one of them, the butcher said "Bismillah" and
cut the other.
Both of them groaned.
The surviving lamb
refused both grass and water.
The twin lamb bleated restlessly, looking for its lamb.
As if trying to help its mother -
like a suckling -
it bleated, banging its head against the iron bars of the hut.
And by this time the mother
had been bleating for a day or two.
She became pregnant again to give birth to new victims.
The butcher called the lamb seller
- Why did you sell me this sick lamb, you scoundrel?
The butcher was a man of God.
He would not slaughter a head without saying bismillah.
The shop owner was also a man of God and every year on Eid al-Adha he would distribute one or two pieces of old meat to his neighbors.
The shop was advertised as a "halal meat shop".
These shops supposedly sold only halal meat.
Of the participants in this poem, only the telephone is called the work of the devil. The author is considered an infidel in this country.
@ poetry
© Bahtiyar Hidayet
