I like to look at the sheep nextdoor <br />And scrutinize every last one, <br />Yet still <br />All I can conclude is that they look the same. <br /> <br />Sure you get the black stained little lambs <br />but sooner they grow into brown than stay black <br />A few others, maybe one remains <br />black, but he behaves no differently to <br />the rest <br /> <br />And Tat' uMavi doesn't seem to mind. <br />Bra Manana, their herder calls the ram <br />'Schoolboy'! <br />Him, I know; Schoolboy. <br />Grandfather; well, he had sheep no less than a hundred <br />once, <br />But he sold them all to send his kids to school; <br />they too, were schoolboys. <br /> <br />There was no difference between Schoolboy <br />and the other ram, <br />'what's his name'? <br />only that he was a bud head <br />and the other had horns. <br /> <br />Grandfather loved all his flocks and herds; <br />The cattle most of all. <br />Since I had never seen his sheep <br />and he would call out loud in the kraal: <br />'Pesi pesi; where, are gone' <br />the merino used to bite his pants. <br />A whole flock-full of names <br />I hear; <br />Jonono, Jingi, Pringa, Fulale <br />and Jo'burg, <br />the dog. <br /> <br />'Pesi-pesi mhe...' <br />The children sing <br /> <br />'Pesi-pesi mhe..' <br /> <br />Free Range, Free Range, <br />Free ofspring! <br />Free Range, Free Range, <br />Freer in spring! <br /> <br />The only thing that's still free <br />is my flock of ideas in paper kraals <br />and Jay-jay, <br />the pen.<br /><br />Nkululeko Mdudu<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/free-range/
