While researching my Youth Ministry project, Animals in the Bible, I found this poem by G.K. Chesterton. Apparently, it’s well known, but I’d never heard it: the voice of the most famous donkey in history.
THE DONKEY
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
G.K. Chesterton
Of course the donkey’s carrying Jesus on his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, and to His crucifixion. I thought this poem might be a different kind of Food For Thought.
(Eda Zahl (S.O.B.I. student, May 2017)
