Flock

I’m a Philistine. Not into poetry like a well-rounded liberal arts grad ought to be. I have nothing against poetry; I simply never got into it. But Billy Collins I like, and I’ve been reading a collection of his poems called Aimless Love. So much humor and insight.

And this was beautiful (classic Collins), worth saving in your sermon illustrations file for Psalm 23:

“Flock” by Billy Collins

It has been calculated that each copy of
the Gutenberg Bible … required the
skins of 300 sheep.
—from an article on printing

I can see them squeezed into the holding pen
behind the stone building
where the printing press is housed,

all of them squirming around
to find a little room
and looking so much alike

it would be nearly impossible
to count them,
and there is no telling

which one will carry the news
that the Lord is a shepherd,
one of the few things they already know.