Shepherding

Mild lamb, I would
gather so closely to me.
I raise my hand,
ask to be chosen.
Life was interesting
when I believed everything
I heard. Now
there is wool in my ear canal.
I give myself away.
Take this hay, take this
big heap of wet hay
in your pitchfork.
Move it somewhere else.
There is plenty of room
in the field. I smoke
behind the fencepost.
I know clearly that I will
remove my pants when it is requested
I remove my pants.
They will call all of us in
on cold nights,
though no one calls
to me specifically.

Copyright © 2007 Paige Ackerson-Kiely All rights reserved
from In No One’s Land
Ahsahta Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission