Sunday Verse
Counting Sheep
by Russell Edson
A scientist has a test tube full of sheep. He wonders if he should try to shrink a pasture for them. They are like grains of rice. He wonders if it is possible to shrink something out of existence. He wonders if the sheep are aware of their tininess, if they have any sense of scale. Perhaps they think the test tube is a glass barn ... He wonders what he should do with them; they certainly have less meat and wool than ordinary sheep. Has he reduced their commercial value? He wonders if they could be used as a substitute for rice, a sort of woolly rice . . . He wonders if he shouldn't rub them into a red paste between his fingers. He wonders if they are breeding, or if any of them have died. He puts them under a microscope, and falls asleep counting them.
