Shepherdess Bringing In Sheep, by Charlie Brice

Shepherdess Bringing In Sheep, by Camille Pissarro (France) 1886

Shepherdess Bringing In Sheep
                                   
He died and, in despair, she took over the farm. She
put on a cheerful face when feeding the chickens,
 
coddled each seed when planting the corn, and cursed 
the plow when her dress or apron caught iron.
 
Her sadness abated when calling the sheep who ran
to her bleating for her caring caress. These furry
 
beasts were her family now. Hope helped her open 
the gate to greet their curious faces and not to think
 
about the rickety fence she didn’t have time to repair 
or her life framed by the pallor of her lonely abode.

Charlie Brice

Charlie Brice is the winner of the 2020 Field Guide Magazine Poetry Contest and is the author of Flashcuts Out of Chaos (2016), Mnemosyne’s Hand (2018), An Accident of Blood (2019), and The Broad Grin of Eternity (forthcoming), all from WordTech Editions. His poetry has been nominated for the Best of Net anthology and twice for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Atlanta Review, Chiron Review, Plainsongs, I-70 Review, The Sunlight Press, Anti-Heroin Chic, and elsewhere.