An Arab Shepherd Is Searching For His Goat On Mount Zion

Portrait of Yehuda Amichai
Yehuda Amichai 1924–2000

An Arab shepherd is searching for his goat on Mount Zion And on the opposite hill I am searching for my little boy. An Arab shepherd and a Jewish father Both in their temporary failure. Our two voices met above The Sultan's Pool in the valley between us. Neither of us wants the boy or the goat To get caught in the wheels Of the "Had Gadya" machine.

Afterward we found them among the bushes, And our voices came back inside us Laughing and crying.

Searching for a goat or for a child has always been The beginning of a new religion in these mountains.

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