The Lost Lamb

When the flock realized

That the lamb was lost

They mobilized immediately

That means they got to work

Trying to find

The littlest member of their group

The older sheep directed

The not-so-old sheep

About which parts of the valley

Needed to be search

The lost lamb

Was not the first lamb

To get lost

But all lambs

Seemed to be fond of

Walking down into the valley

By themselves

Called by some unseen voice

That could only be heard

By the youngest

Of the flock

The not-so-old sheep

Headed to the three valleys

Of the land

While the older sheep

Asked the not-very-old-at-all sheep

To check the forest

But to stay together

As it was even easier

To get lost in the forest

Than it was to get lost in the valley

And more lost sheep

Would mean more work

For everyone else

After the First Valley was searched

It was discovered

That while there was no lost lamb down there

There was beautiful grass

Growing all along the river

Than ran through the valley

And the sheep were glad to know about it

Since they were always looking

For new grazing spots

The lamb’s mother

Was very upset

At the thought that sheep

Were discussing grass along a river

While her poor lamb was missing

But the older sheep took her aside

And told her

That they were only talking about some pleasant

Because they were all so upset

That the lamb might be in danger

In the Second Valley

Their fears were founded

When they ran into a pack of coyotes

Who snapped at the lambs

That made up the Second Valley search party

But before things could get too scary

Sam the Sheepdog came running

And bared his teeth

At the coyotes

Who knew better than to mess with

The wildest sheepdog in the land

Once the coyotes were banished

Sam joined the search

For the lost lamb

And soon he was running

Through all seventeen

Of the fields on the farm

To see if the lamb was napping somewhere

And couldn’t hear

Its family and friends calling to him

In the Third Valley

The sheep found tracks

That looked very small

And they thought

They had finally found

Their lost lamb

But relief soon turned sour

As they found that the tracks

Walked right into

A dark and dirty lake

Where it was impossible

To see down further

More than a foot or so

The sheep, not willing to give up,

Grabbed onto each other

And formed a chain

Then they walked into the water

Holding tight

So that they could pull back

If anything went wrong

The water dark green and murky

But not very deep

And the sheep were able

To walk almost to the middle

When they heard a barking

Sam the Sheepdog had found something

The sheep shook themselves dry

As they had learned from Sam to do

And ran to the seventeenth field

Where Sam was standing

Next to the little lost lamb

Who had, indeed, fallen asleep

Without telling anyone

Where he was going

When he was reunited with his mother

And the rest of the flock

The sheep returned to their corral

Where the farmer stood amazed

That the sheep and the sheepdog

Had done all that

Just to find one little lamb

But the sheep knew

That a flock cannot be a flock minus twenty

Or ten

Or even one of its members

The agreement to care for each other

Is what makes it a flock

And a family

And that is why the sheep

Did not think twice

About finding the lost lamb

But we can’t expect everyone

To understand

The values of a good flock

Can we?