24. The Shepherd's Blues

 

Fast is the city night, and loth to fuse,
Day’s hectic pace with the Shepherd’s blues.
Look for the stars, you’d say that there are none,
Look up a second time for even one,
One, or maybe two, casting their dim light,
Above the city haze, eluding sight.
But starlets peddling the latest rage
Are out, and salesclerks for minimum wage
Close shop, eager for society’s page.
Nor does Old City Hall clock’s dull tone
The time and age’s influence disown:
Nine strikes which sound the closing of the store,
An evening and the day beginning o’er,
That in later hours then invites the cheer,
Of young revelers sounding out the year.
A Shepherd bent on rising with the sun,
Once closed his door before the day was done,
And now with thankful heart to bed does creep,
To join his latest mistress in her sleep,
And dark the lonely journey down the hill,
And long the night without a sleeping pill,
Once young, but never to have met,
Nor much content with what they each could get,
But years of happy life as of yet.
Carts and the tread of hooves are heard no more,
One time they were, but that has faded o’er,
With the modern need for the modern ore,
He’s yawning to relieve his idle brain,
And gives a moment’s thought to dull ache’s pain,
Yet must rise early for the morning train.