HERDING
All day I herd
my mother's sheep.
The sheep and I,
we have a way of going
that is always the same.
From the corral we go
to the waterhole
and through the arroyo
to the sagebrush
then back again.
Outside is round
like the sheep corral.
Outside is round
like my mother's hogan,
but it is bigger.
Outside is big,
big,
so big.
Sometimes
when I am alone
with my mother's sheep,
I am afraid.
I cannot say
with words
the things
that make me afraid
because I do not know
what they are.
But sometimes
outside is so still
and big
and empty
and I am so little.
The red rocks
are so high
and Beautiful Mountain
behind my mother's hogan
seems far away.
Nothing walks with me,
but the sheep,
just the sheep,
and I am so little
walking along
in the big outside.
I am so little,
I am afraid.
And then
near by
I see my mother
at her hogan door.
The red rocks
seem to bend down
to look at me
in a good way
and Beautiful Mountain
comes closer.
All things are good again
because
my mother is near me.
I am not afraid.
Today is cold.
There is wind
and snow
and sand
and always wind.
I take the sheep
to the waterhole
and the wind goes with us.
