Winter Lambs
by Jane Kenyon, from Otherwise
All night snow came upon us
with unwavering intent
small flakes not meandering
but driving thickly down. We woke
to see the yard, the car and road
heaped unrecognizably.
The neighbors' ewes are lambing
in this stormy weather. Three
lambs born yesterday, three more
expected...
Felix the ram looked
proprietary in his separate pen
while fatherhood accrued to him.
The panting ewes regarded me
with yellow-green, small-
pupiled eyes.
I have a friend who is pregnant
plans gone awry and not altogether
pleased. I don't say she should
be pleased. We are creation's
property, its particles, its clay
as we fall into this life,
agree or disagree.
