The Good Shepherds by Patrick T. Reardon

Those shepherds smell 

of lambs and the sweat 

of the fields.  Those 

shepherds choose sheep 

rather than us.  They live 

out in the wind and storm, 

in the empty space that 

scares any sensible soul.  

What is there to grab onto?  

They face the wolf and the 

threat of a fall that breaks 

a bone and strands a body 

to its tick-tock end.  Chasing 

a lost lamb, they find the 

burning bush and are scorched.  

They are burnt and scarred 

and talk to the Moon at night.  

The stars are their sisters.