WHERE DID YOUR FEAR OF THE WOLF COME FROM ? - by Besnik Mustafaj

WHERE DID YOUR FEAR OF THE WOLF COME FROM ?

- by Besnik Mustafaj

You were born in the city, my son,
so you never went into the forest,

not even for a stroll.
So how did you get your terrible fear

of the wolf ?

So I'm asking you what a wolf is,
I'm asking you what a wolf's like.

All you can say is that he is voracious
and that when he is hungry
the water lapped by the lamb

is troubled all the way up to its source -
which prevents the tender creature from drinking.

Thus it is obvious that you have never seen a wolf,
my little man.

So where in the bosom of the big city
did your fear of the wolf come from ?

* * *
- translated by Anthony Weir from the Albanian of Besnik Mustafaj, Albanian Ambassador to France 1992-1997

* Besnik Bajram Mustafaj (born 1958) is an Albanian writer and diplomat.