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)
Hats off to the man who stares at goats! This is a finely wrought piece of poetry.
Excellent american sonnet. Love the way the surreal is felt and then the volta to the speaker and the play with scapegoat and then the lovely 'plain' language: 'but only have the time that is not mine' And then the haunting couplet to end. You guys are really good at finding gems :)