Counting Sheep.
Starting early in dawn\'s high-country fields
scent of lambing arises when farmers,
asleep under snoring duvets
must rouse and yield to labouring needs
at roostor-crow hour
and sleepily leave the togetherness
of female-warm bed
before heading, quick-trousered into folds
and cautiously peep
at motherly grunts hoping sun will impale
morning mist after night\'s
chilly effort to beat dropped breath from
wooly bleats in after-birth cold.
Hitch-plough field\'s scent of new raw day
shows darkness left
few heaving ewes as night creeps away,
followed by farmers who,
still counting sheep and blessings, leave
the rest in God\'s keeping