Goats Have Followed

 

Goats Have Followed

(“They turned away from him. Their spirits were not faithful to him.” Psalm 78:8b)

It was not possible to foresee the guardians of the gate
tearing it all down and insisting
they only
carried the crown of divine glory.

Had they forgotten the peaceful one
who rode through the gates on the back of a donkey?
Instead they let their banners fly all
red, blue, and white and
sentenced him to die upon the bloody earth
and, turning the truth to a lie,
announced their rules
were God’s rules,
as if no one would notice the change in the script.

Today I sit in grief, today my tears will not cease,
the guardians are gone, and goats have followed them
thinking the shepherd is just like them. Say it again:
the shepherd hates everything they hate and they
post it on church signs,
facebook pages,
sanctuary songs,
and still wave their banners while the

Shepherd prefers
the company of those who can afford only
asses to ride
to their next destination, the next notation
of simple chants, barely heard at the gates of power,
but sung by workers in the fields,
children on the hills,
a freedom song that flags of nations can
never give.