The Cheviot sheep live
in the high country of Scotland
and never smile. It is an unselfconscious
life: they live on clover, with few species
of any other kind. From the bland calm eyes
in their pure white faces they gaze on
green grasses of the lea and follow
untrodden paths to eat their fill—
a tender sprout here, a clump of sweet tendrils
there; a continuous munching
of mellifluous rhythms.
Fatter, and happily fatter
and bulging with wooly whiteness,
she’s fulfilled by the clover completely.
When she returns from her hours
of contemplation, she sees the male.
and admires him in her poetic fashion,
rewarding him with the one word she knows.
The winds blow softly as their minds merge
In the wooly oneness of sheep.
Martha Kahane is a psychologist and an avid choral singer. She misses choral singing terribly since singing in groups has become lethal. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband of forty years.