Pick up the beat and sing something lighter
the Enterprise found a strange planet to test
the theory that humanoids colonized all planets
for here was a land of honeyed milk to attest
that all manner of ungulates, cows, yaks and goats
might be ones who are able to boast
that they are the conquerors of every world
not predators, emperors, or weapons unfurled.
Pavel and Scotty, a little too curious
about the herds of black sheep running with woolly tails
(and Scotty, a Scotsman, remembered so fondly
the pastures of Scotland, the hills and the dales)
were determined to trace ancestry back to Dolly
the old Terran ewe of old Edinburghese
scientifically, of course, this question was folly
but this deterred not our Scotsman-in-fleece.
They managed to capture a black ram and an ewe
after much running and panting through panicking flocks
while Sulu and Christine laughed on the sidelines
and Keenser watched cackling atop of a rock
Pavel tried soothing the ewe all a-tremble
whose bleeting was breaking his hard Russian heart
he imagined that if he could understand her
she was crying to him and both to the flock
"Don't leave! Let go! Don't tear! Depart!"
Scotty sort of forgot that these sheep are not Scottish
they were wild and unused to contact with those arts
of shepherding, shearing, milking and slaughter
but still knew predation, fear, and the mark
of a being whose eyes stared a little too closely
for interests to be totally benign from the start
Scotty held the ram, whose heart was a-racing
as still as a cornered person can be
Scotty thought his job finished, got ready to transport
when the ram bucked and butted, kicked him in the knee
the black ram ran to Pavel who gave no resistance
he let go of the ewe immediately
she ran back to safety with the ram close behind her
while Christine quickly scanned Scotty to see
if the old ram in self defence had inflicted
any grievous hurt or bad injury
but the only thing wounded was Scotty's adventure-
the flock never let them near ever again
Scotty limped, bruised and sore but laughing already
about the time he was bested by a ram
Keenser, Sulu, and Christine unpacked their basket
laid out a soft blanket and sat down in the glen
where the five feasted on bread, milk, and honey
red beer and red mutton of replicator-gen
happy and breathing in satisfaction.
Yet Pavel remembered a time when the ancients
sacrificed ewes to the gods and their ken
and Sulu remembered a time when Odysseus
drew red ram's blood to speak to the dead.