Oh well we led the mothers
up trail—
high country
                            accessible in spring

Slung across our backs now
in canvas envelopes,
six lambs each
folded comically,
                                      head out
to better see

Navigate this steep ravine
down to the flat place
a mother can raise a child safe

In this one life
                                on this soft-turning earth
of course we carry the fragile ones at first