Truly

By Toti O'Brien

We are told about the prodigal son’s return. 
We know neither when nor why he left. 
If, for instance, departure occurred in the dark
stifling hours of a summer night or else
as we suspect, on a chilly winter dawn. 
If he stole Father’s horse, if he took
the train at the station, if – as we imagine 
he walked the dirt path towards the main road
then tried to hitch a ride. 
Perhaps a cart stopped, or a lost tourist van 
or  - that is just hearsay – 
a black limousine. 

He didn’t carry luggage – his pockets filled 
with loose change and the photo (we guess) 
he had unpinned from the wall of his room 
near the bed. Of departure, little is known. 
Officially, at least. We lack a motive. 
And duration. How long did exile – absence 
last? Long enough, it seems, for some 
reconsidering on either side. Meanwhile
the calf grew fat and the sibling righteous. 
The sibling, once prodigal boy took the road 
and was spirited away, became an only child 
with a deep, sound sigh of relief. 

Little is known of pre-split. Pre-diaspora.
There are rumors. That he asked for his part of 
inheritance ahead of time, to go live the life 
in the capital town up North or abroad. That 
he squandered it in a blink through gambling 
and drinking, opium, whores. That’s the version 
scribes will record in Father’s memoirs, to be
duly passed down. When the calf was served 
(prime ribs, neatly barbecued, perfumed with 
rosemary and thyme) a parchment came along.
Son was asked to sign at the bottom of the page. 
Wearily, he traced a timid arabesque.

Toti O’Brien is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish Last Name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician and dancer. She is the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise Press, 2020), In Her Terms (Cholla Needles Press, 2021), Pages of a Broken Diary (Psky’s Porch, 2022) and Alter Alter (Elyssar Press, 2022).