Sheepshooter

Sheepshooter

He earned his sheepshooter’s badge
In the marines when he plinked
A farmer’s stray sheep lolling across
The target range at Camp Pendleton.

He never lived it down, and became
A Sheepherder on a ranch in Wyoming,
A sort of penance to assuage the guilt
And placate the souls of dead sheep.

On cold winter nights, he sits in his
Sheep shack, warming his hands over
The old pot belly stove, and sings
“We are poor little lambs who have

Lost our way, baa, baa, baa”, to the
Beetles tune “Yesterday”. Never wed,
He guards his flock with a 30/30
And lovingly eyes his favorite ewe!