Little Lambs

A flock of children parade
through the playground
on their way home from school.

Mothers and grandmothers,
the wary shepherds, guide
them through the maze

of beer bottles, cigarette
butts and plastic vials,
that litter

the side-walk
and fill the empty
cracks
where weeds
and grass don’t grow.

The women try to keep
the children in line,
and can only pray
that as their young
get older
they won’t stray.