Two Goats
by Jeremy Radin
after Marc Chagall and William Holman Hunt
After all was said & done there was a pair
of goats on my hut’s wall. One held a violin
& one had been banished into the desert
with a bit of silk wrapped around its horns.
One had a woman on its shoulder & one
stood alone before a violet mountain.
One had a hand & a hoof, & the other had
the harvested sins of the Hebrews braided
into its hair. I am a man between goats. I am
the scapegoat, the blue goat of chamber music.
I wander the desert. I try to offer a tribute
but only have the time that is not mine.
For a lonely god I play my lonely song.
For a love that won’t release me, I must go.
First published in Beyond Words Magazine (Issue 59, Summer 2025)