Sheep Groups of Four

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

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

Suzy clapped: four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty. Five groups. Twenty sheep.

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

Biltong tried to join a sheep four. 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 five piles of four. Skip-count by fours.

Muster maths can be a rhythm — then a latch.

Lead keeps the count and the kindness together.

Five fours make twenty.