Goat Song

Chris Ellery

June 7, 2026

This cup I pour with such delight has made

an epic journey, from the high plateau 

of Ethiopia to mystic cultivation in 

Arabia, from the Red Sea port of Mokha, 

to Turkey, Egypt, Italy, and all of Europe, 

lately to America in time for tea, and now 

my ancient camp pot on the Coleman stove.

I don’t forget your history, bitter bean, 

ground with the tang of ritual and rebellion, 

endowed with essence of desire for solitary 

prayer and independence, and strong 

with love of wisdom discovered deep 

in conversation and coffeehouse communion. 

And I do not forget those happy goats 

who found you first. The world may be at war, 

ever war and strife, but life’s not tragic

altogether. So I honor you, discerning goats!

With choral dance of gladness, I proclaim 

you free—Te absolve!—from dark, 

fallacious centuries of prejudicial guilt 

by slanderous association with 

the dithyrambs of Thespis, strophe and 

antistrophe of Aeschylus, hubris 

and hamartia, bloody recognition 

and reversal. I give you back your satyr 

innocence, ecstatic fellowship 

with Bacchus, bliss-loving Dionysius, 

god of freedom, god of joy. 

You are the archetype, O peerless goat. 

Be not aggrieved by parables, for you

are far superior to sheep in this at least—

that you were first to munch the stimulant

and keep awake in caffeine watchfulness 

through long, dark watches of a dreary night.

Forever revel in ruminant blessedness 

on those ancient hills, those fertile, wild, 

and misty slopes of noble Africa! Let all 

our grinding and our brewing be 

remembrance of your grazing, ever-wise 

and ever-lively goats. So may your bean-

glad boisterous spirits bound in us to wake

us with transforming joy all times we lift 

to grateful lips—day or night, served hot

or cold—a cup, a mug, a glass, a shot. 

Chris Ellery is the author of One Like Silence and five other poetry collections. In the last century, he spent a weekend herding goats in the Alawi mountains of Syria overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and developed intense respect for those free-spirited beasts, just short of considering them his totem animal.