[Julie Steiner]

For me, having raised sheep and been distinctly unimpressed by their capacity for deep thought, "Scrambling out of the metaphor, / take the paths worn out by sheep / in their thoughful musings" simply evokes the expression "wool-gathering".

I had some trouble diagramming the following sentence, which seems to be two independent sentences spliced together so that the "although" clauses seem to modify the first, and then the second:

To walk the land is to possess it
on leases of a stride's length,
each ceded easily, without
encumbrance, although
brambles may raise objections, mists
intermeddle, petty fogs
parlay you into dull circum-
locutions, keep on.

I would prefer to punctuate that as:

To walk the land is to possess it
on leases of a stride's length,
each ceded easily, without
encumbrance. Although
brambles may raise objections, mists
intermeddle, petty fogs
parlay you into dull circum-
locutions, keep on.

That way, the "Although" clauses modify the circumstances under which the reader is exhorted to "keep on," rather than seeming only to contradict and undermine the modifiers "easily, without encumbrance." Their position might still allow that suggestion as well, but without committing to leaving that interpretation open as firmly as the comma splice seems to.

Not sure I like making an expansive idea like "Unenclosed" so choppy (although I do like the lack of a full stop after it). Perhaps punctuate the last line as:

and stands around you, unenclosed

I liked the suggestion of a John Clare quotation about the enclosure of public lands, but can't recommend one in particular.

Very nice, David.