SCAPEGOAT, by Bryn Hammond<\/p>\n
I stuck a finger in his eye,<\/p>\n
The human I first took to eat.<\/p>\n
I hummed to him a lullaby<\/p>\n
And nibbled on his hands and feet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They live by music, in the hall.<\/p>\n
Glad hymns celebratory<\/p>\n
Of every creature, great and small,<\/p>\n
But they have forgotten me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My mother said we are outcast,<\/p>\n
Ghouls, goblins, ogres, elves, Cain’s kin \u2013<\/p>\n
The first to murder, and the last,<\/p>\n
Our instinct his original sin.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They sing sad songs of exiles, men \u2013<\/p>\n
But exiles never have our face.<\/p>\n
Laments and sentiment for them \u2013<\/p>\n
Not us, disfigured from God’s grace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They sing of family and feud,<\/p>\n
Of torn and tangled loyalty,<\/p>\n
Emotion like a falcon mewed,<\/p>\n
Violence let fly in tragedy.<\/p>\n
They think love and hate are human food.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have my cause, I have my wrong,<\/p>\n
I have the monster folk, my own.<\/p>\n
I’ll make them sing a Grendel song<\/p>\n
Of blood and viscera and bone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My schedule is to eat a Dane<\/p>\n
At one a night on my campaign.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They believe us stupid brutes<\/p>\n
With none of their high functions, no \u2013<\/p>\n
No comradeship, no kindness, fruits<\/p>\n
Of God and light and blessing, so<\/p>\n
I tell them blow by blow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hatred sends me to the fight,<\/p>\n
Also pity of things that crawl<\/p>\n
And mewl and gibber in the night<\/p>\n
Where is no love at all.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Against my solitude I’ve got<\/p>\n
Their crafty hands and crunchy feet<\/p>\n
And glaucous eyes like water shot<\/p>\n
With the sunlight’s heat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The scapegoat is a precious beast.<\/p>\n
Your sins are heaped upon his head<\/p>\n
And he is driven from the feast<\/p>\n
To wander deserts of the dead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If he were not, you’d have to see<\/p>\n
Those moors and marshes that you fence,<\/p>\n
Your own monstrosity.<\/p>\n
He lets you keep your innocence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n Bryn Hammond lives in a coastal town in Australia, where she likes to write while walking in the sea. Her historical Amgalant<\/em> novels closely follow the Secret History of the Mongols<\/em>, a 13th<\/sup>-century life of Chinggis Khan. Sword & Sorcery in New Edge Sword & Sorcery<\/em>, Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes. <\/em>Novella Waste Flowers<\/em> out soon from Brackenbury Books. <\/em>Other Beowulf pieces in ergot. and on Bryn\u2019s website amgalant.com.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SCAPEGOAT, by Bryn Hammond I stuck a finger in his eye, The human I first took to eat. I hummed to him a lullaby And nibbled on his hands and feet. ** They live by music, in the hall. Glad hymns celebratory Of every creature, great and small, But they have forgotten me. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-63-archive","category-main","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4361"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4392,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions\/4392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}