Mid-Chew Poem by Laurence Overmire

What is it that the ram sees
Looking at me

Human walking by
To stop and stare

For an instant

The grass grows
For the eating

The sheep fattened
For the slaughter?

Not for me, thanks
I prefer to

See the sheep
As part of the landscape

A brother made
For this beautiful place

With just as much right
To be here as I

More perhaps, for
I am the intruder here

I will leave you to your
Business, brother

I am honored
That you have allowed me

To share this fleeting pastoral
Moment

With you.

~ Laurence Overmire

(Previously published in The Ghost of Rabbie Burns: An American Poet's Journey Through Scotland, Indelible Mark Publishing,2016)