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