Questions about Azazel (Leviticus 16:5 - 22)

    Photo Peter Neumann on unsplash

Alone in the desert, he waits. 

What does he do between one Yom Kippur

and the next? Can he hear the goat coming, stumbling

across the bare rocks, heavy with misdeeds, 

red ribbon trailing in the sand like blood

oozing from a wound?

And what of the goats from years past?

Did he take them in, save them from falling

or being pushed over the cliff?

Is there a tribe of them waiting too

for the new arrival?

At last the confused animal

stumbles out of the wilderness.

"There, there," Azazel says,

"Welcome. Unburden yourself.

Let me get some water

for you to drink."