All We like Sheep

David R. Slavitt

No sheep would ever say, or, all right, think

"The shepherd is our Lord." They are not good

with metaphors but, stupid as they may be,

they know that the shepherd sooner or later will come

with his curved knife and the sheep always run

whenever they see him. They run from his dog too,

because it bites, but neither one of them means

any good to sheep. On the other hand goats,

forgetting their native caution, come when they're called

and even learn to nibble（轻咬，啃） out of your hand,

denying what's real for these sentimental moments

their herdsman（牧人） allows them in their foreshortened lives.

The knife waits in its sheath（鞘，护套） for them too,

so, if they're smarter than sheep, they're also dimmer,

not having learned Abraham's hard lesson.

Matthew's peculiar story about how Jesus

sorts out the sheep and goats assumes that it's hard—

they separate themselves, the believing goats

on one side and the fearful, atheist sheep

all on the other, nervous even there,

to embarrass us, which is why there are no scape-sheep

wandering the wilderness for our sins.