The Little Shepherd

poem

The Little Shepherd

The little shepherd runs with his kids across the lea, Guarding them.

Hie!

Like bees, the kids fly past him in their glee.

The shepherd is only four years old.                                                                                                                                                     In a yellow sweater and rubber boots of blue, His father gave him a wooden

flute, to make him a shepherd, real and true.

Grandfather watches him over the fence, calling out, asking with a grin:

"How many kids do you have, shepherd boy?" The little one’s head

begins to spin. "Four!" he shouts, but shows five fingers instead.

Grandfather laughs and shakes his head: "You're a fine lad, hardworking

and bold, but a poor shepherd, truth be told.                                                                                                                                   You don’t know how to count your flock.

Learn to ten�"by tomorrow on the clock!"

The little shepherd complained to his mother, that he didn't know how to

count like the others.

So that night, instead of a story or rhyme, he practiced his numbers, one through ten, in time.

He spelled them, he learned them, until he fell deep in sleep.

And at dawn, he was back with the secrets to keep.

He rose early and led his kids out to play, He gathered the grass for

them to start the day.

The kids nibble gently from his small hand.

One even tugs his yellow sweater strand.                                                                                                                                             Now he's a shepherd, through and through.

Grandfather spots him and asks for a review, to count from one to ten, just for

a view.

The shepherd counted to eight, quick and straight.

And eight little fingers he held up elate.

Grandfather laughs, praises him, and then: "Why didn't you count all the way to ten?"

"I don't need any more, Grandfather," he says, "

There are only eight kids in the herd today."