Sheep Groups of Five

The race spat sheep in calm bunches — five and five when soft eye worked.

Groups of five, said Spike. Count the groups, then multiply with looking.

Suzy clapped: five, ten, fifteen, twenty. Four groups. Twenty sheep.

Not twenty-one because Woolworth looked special. Special still counts as one.

Biltong tried to join a sheep five. Different species. Different queue.

Soft eye kept the groups true. Numbers without soft eye become shove maths.

Thinking Cap habit: group, then count groups. Cap does not invent sheep.

Little Thunder stood clear of the race like a sensible mahogany fence post.

Kids: twenty toys in four piles of five. Skip-count by fives.

Muster maths can be a rhythm — then a latch.

Lead keeps the count and the kindness together.

Four fives make twenty.