Sleepless sheep

What do sheep count to fall asleep?
The sheep that lie in the meadow,
wide awake.
The ones that cuddle up and merge
into a woolen flood.
Black and white and brown and greyish wool.
Old and young and middle aged sheep.
Do they dream of overcoming midlife crisis?
How would they even know
if half their life was over?
How would humans know?
Humans count sheep.
Night after night
on sleepless nights.
They count the sheep that lie in the meadow,
The ones that cuddle up and merge
into a woolen flood.
Humans also like to cuddle up. They hug
their partners or their children or their pets
or their blankets or their pillows.
And most of all they hug their dreams.
Tell me, when will you wake up
from dreaming you’ll be around forever?