The Other Ninety-Nine

The Other Ninety-Nine 

by Seun Lari-Williams

You go around telling how the

shepherd left us,

the remaining ninety-nine,

in search of you, 

the lost one,

until he found you.

You say, when he found you,

he carried you on his shoulders,

rejoicing.

That it made you smile sheepishly.

You go off singing, off-key,

a love song about

how special you are.

You’ve always liked to feel special

though.

And that’s your weakness.

Call us the jealous brother but

you do realize he didn’t leave us

in an unsafe place, right?

You know he’d never do that?

And you do realize he’d do the same

for the rest of us –

each and every one of us?

Can you imagine how he’d have felt

if when he returned, he couldn’t find the

remaining ninety-nine?

No, you can’t.

Because you can’t help thinking there’s

something special about you.

You say, when he got home,

he called his friends, his family, 

and his neighbours

to rejoice with him.

But did he offer them meat? 

Did he say to them:

“Let’s kill and eat one or two

of my other sheep

because I found this one”?

Of course, not.

You know why?

You’re not special.

You know why?

We’re all special.

Seun Lari-Williams was born in 1987. He attended Badagry Grammar School and studied law at the University of Lagos where he served as President of the Law Society. His first anthology Garri for Breakfast was longlisted for the 2017 NLNG Prize for Literature.