by Sean O’Neill
This sheep crouched in an open field
where the rain like pages turned the grass
and combed the shocks of barley back
towards the tip of the ramshackle gate
that posed no halt to the drakes or ganders
scattered like live popcorn about the farm,
looking for love in the drab plumage
of their mates and their shy meanders.
This is not a story of great miracles;
just a stop-press that the solitary life,
endured with the patience of a sheep
in a rain of troubles and misdeeds,
leads the poor, the lame and the deaf
into the mouth of consolations
that grow and shift their footprint
to accommodate the soul’s aching.
And no toil is ever wasted when life
is still afoot and the creep of candor
breaks the deadlock of sullen silences.
No rain-bearded jaw grinding pods,
nor water-mottled fleece of amber stain,
nor slow, unblinking eye of held-back tears
is overlooked by highest heaven’s gaze,
whose love is in the barley and the rain.
Sean O’Neill was born in Scotland, but has lived in the USA for the past 15 years. He has had poetry published in First Things, The Ottawa Literary Review, Living Bulwark, Reformed Journal, Clay Jar Review and American Literary. Sean has published 17 collections of poetry and is the author of the bestselling “How To Write a Poem: A Beginner’s Guide.”