A father had two sons; the younger asked his share,

Wanted future inheritance while his father still was there.

The living was divided, and in not too many days

The younger gathered everything and took a distant way.

Far from home he spent it freely, substance scattered into air,

Then a mighty famine settled on a country stripped and bare.

When the money had departed, want arrived without disguise,

And the son who left with plenty found himself with hungry eyes.

He joined himself to one who sent him out to feed the swine,

And even husks looked generous in the famine's hard decline.

No man gave him anything; the bottom had a sound,

Then somewhere in the hunger, clear remembrance turned around.

When he came to himself,

He remembered bread at home.

Hired servants had abundance,

While the son was starving alone.

When he came to himself,

He turned his face toward home.

"I have sinned against heaven,

I'm not worthy as a son."

He rose before the answer,

He walked before he knew,

And while he was yet far away,

His father saw him too.

Compassion ran to meet him, arms around the wasted frame,

The son began confession, but the household changed his name.

The best robe, ring, and sandals, fatted calf and feast were brought,

For the dead was called alive again, the lost was found and sought.

Music reached the elder brother working outside near the land,

And anger kept him from the house though servants helped him understand.

He counted years of service and the feast he never had,

Unable to rejoice because restored grace made him mad.

The father went out to him too,

Not only to the road.

"All that I have is thine," he said,

Yet mercy was still owed.

It was meet to make rejoicing,

Not because the waste was right,

But a brother dead was living,

And the lost had come to light.

When he came to himself,

He turned his face toward home.

The father saw him far away

And would not let him come alone.

Robe and ring, feast and music,

The father named the reason good:

The dead one now was living,

And the lost one found where he stood.