OTHELLO
No wonder he was terrified
After narrowly escaping
The fate
Of the other two lost goats who
Tried unwisely
To cross a freeway
And after getting
Hopelessly entangled
In a big plastic tarp
And after being shot
By humans he assumed were
Trying to harm him but
Were actually trying to tranquilize
And rescue him
He fought the drug
Struggled to come out of it
Stumbled about
Drunkenly
Doing his best to escape but failing
A woman kept him company for
A few days
Trying to be a
Calming presence
Until Othello came to realize
Not only that the woman was kind
But also that
He was in love
When she walked away
He followed her
When she went out the gate
He went over the fence
He needed to be by her side
The fence was raised and
He demonstrated his
Olympic prowess
The fence had to be raised even higher
To keep the goat from
Following his beloved
It was hard for him to learn to wait patiently
But now he knows
That she will always
Come back to him
Note: Based on The Gift of Kindness, by Pam Ahern. Penguin, 2013, p. 31
