The Goat and Brian Jones

An Incident in October 1968

The satyr Stone, alone, watched 

under the terracotta Moroccan sky

as they led the goat to sacrifice

in the ominous Atlas Mountain shade.

Hashish mirage of his sickened senses,

the djinn gathered in his mind,

ready for the kill.

But rather than give into to cruelty,

which was his usual way,

he recognised suddenly the foreshadow,

a kinship with the bleating kid,

its fate to die dramatically

for eyes wanting only death

as a performance.

Lost eyes and feminine lashes

beseeching without avail.

Strangely still in the fierce sun it died

with a srangled human call.

'That's me,' Brian said softly

to his laughing friends.