Cold Days in May

On cold days in May,

sheep have a tendency

to do one or both of two things:

give birth, or die.

So when you go out into the field

to find a lamb dying where it lies,

you're not that shocked.

I tuck it in my coat, keep it warm,

keep it close, tell it this is the most

impossible thing you'll ever do

but you'll pull through.

And sometimes, on the most

beautiful of cold May days,

it does.

On a cold day in May,

I got a text from a number that used to make me smile.

I'd seen it coming for a while.

No matter how close I grasped it,

no matter how hard I tried,

I had felt the growing distance

and the space wouldn't subside

and

sometimes

cold days in May will bring

nothing but heartbreak.

Because now my phone is silent

and the lamb in my jacket is too.

But there will be other lambs,

I tell myself.

There will be more.