I woke and rose and slipt away
To the heathery hills in the morning grey.
In a field where the dew lay cold and deep
I met an ass, new-roused from sleep.
I stroked his nose and I tickled his ears,
And spoke soft words to quiet his fears.
His eyes stared into the eyes of me
And he kissed my hands of his courtesy.
-O big, brown brother out of the waste,
How do thistles for breakfast taste?
-And do you rejoice in the dawn divine
With a heart that is glad no less than mine?
-For, brother, the depth of your gentle eyes
Is strange and mystic as the skies:
-What are the thoughts that grope behind,
Down in the mist of a donkey mind?
-Can it be true, as the wise men tell,
That you are a mask of God as well,
-And, as in us, so in you no less
Speaks the eternal Loveliness,
-And words of the lips that all things know
Among the thoughts of a donkey go?
-However it be, O four-foot brother,
Fair to-day is the earth, our mother.
-God send you peace and delight thereof,
And all green meat of the waste you love,
-And guard you well from violent men
Who-d put you back in the shafts again.â?
But the ass had far too wise a head
To answer one of the things I said,
So he twitched his fair ears up and down
And turned to nuzzle his shoulder brown.
The Ass
Clive Staples Lewis
(1)
Poem topics: I love you, away, green, heart, mother, peace, rose, sleep, head, gentle, earth, field, deep, eternal, answer, mind, cold, morning, glad, depth, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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