Meg lambs are fearsome creatures.
Hand-reared on warmed and teated bottles,
they batten and grow bold, presume too much.

Before you know it they're worrying cows,
traumatising chicken-hearted postmen,
living like vagabond kings by their own rule.

A rough and ready brigandage prevails,
a brief and heady tyranny pro tem.
No one crosses the yard unmolested.

Affectionate buffetings are all the rage.
The farm is gripped
in a reign of woolly terror.

Robespierre clutched his jaw and faced his death.
Attila's nose bled till his life ran out.
A small cloud grows out of the north.

Swagger all you like, my lad.
The meanest sparrow falls.
The abattoir awaits the toughest mutton.

David, honestly don't know if "Meg lambs" is made up or a real thinG< WHICH IS ONE OF THE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THIS POEM (damn things took control of my CAPS LOCK key for a minute there too! I enjoyed this a lot. Tom

Maybe you should have called it "Silence of the Lambs", Clarice.

All the same, well done.  Much enjoyed.  Thanks.

Thanks Tom. A meg lamb is a real thing. It refers (or it did, when I were a lad) to a lamb that has been orphaned or rejected by its mother (the product of a broken home, ewe see) and consequently is brought up by the farmer (or his family). They quickly grow over-familiar. Their personality is a sort of cross between a puppy and a friendly poltergeist.

Yep, that CAPS LOCK thing will be them. I think we're okay for the moment, but if they ever get their hooves on weapons of mass destruction we're in trouble.

Desiree, you've made me realise I should call this the "The Insolence of the Lambs", so thank you for that.

Cheers

David

This is very tasty writing.

Plumb excellent, David.

milner

Thanks all. Looking at it again now, I think I could snip S5, no harm done.

Cheers

David

If you'd snipped S5 before I read and enjoyed this piece, I'd still have enjoyed.  But there is something about its placement and the use of fearsome archetypes that (for me) links what comes before with the end S.  Would not snip, but that's just me.

With or without, must make a pick.

Thank you very much for the pick, Lynn, and for the advice. I'd almost convinced myself I was right about S5, but I'm not so sure now.

Cheers

David

Much enjoyed Mr. Mann. I'm sure James Herriot would have agreed.

great choice.

Thank you very much, Lavonne and James. I'm touched. I'm honoured. I'm chuffed.

Cheers

David

A joy to read, such a well-crafted and fresh and meaningful poem!  Of course I do not know what "meg" means but I assume it is farm jargon, and accept it as such.  I will be keeping an eye out to read more of your work.  Really a joy to read!

Bravo!  Great to find this here!

lynn

Congrats, David! Tom