My Sheep Rock by James Aitchison

australianchildrenspoetry

February 19

I saw some rocks in Ireland

and the farmer there explained,

"I built myself a little wall

to keep my sheep contained."

"The big stones on the bottom,"

the smaller ones on top,

and it cost me not a penny

for my roaming sheep to stop."

"And who needs to have a gate

when you have this kind of pen?

I just lift some stones away,

then put them back again."

Teacher's note: Dry stone walls are constructed of carefully selected interlocking stones without mortar to hold them in place. Found in hilly areas of Britain, Scotland and Ireland, especially in Connemara on the West Coast where large stones exist in the soil. One system of Irish dry stone walls was carbon-dated to 3800 BC. Closer to home, dry stone walls can be found in western Victoria, some parts of Tasmania, and around Kiama in New South Wales.