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.
Commentary
At the age of eight, my eldest sister decided to teach me (aged six) and our two other sisters (aged four and eight) this poem. Why she chose this poem I don’t know, nor do I remember how she went about teaching it. All I know is that she was eminently successful, and even now we can recite the poem perfectly. At six, I had no idea what the poem was about (though I recited it with pride and passion, excited by the idea of flying fish and a moon of blood), but because I learned it so early, the fierce beauty of the poem is now enriched with nostalgia for me.
— VG
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Chellappa Mallika (Mallika) · 2 August 2004
Aother gem from that book “An Anthology of Modern verse”, at least that’s where I read it - same page as “Lepanto”
Of course the palms refer to Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Mallika
edel.cleary · 6 October 2005
I first read this poem in Palgrave’s Golden Treasury of Verse when I was a child. One of my older brothers and sisters had written on the flyleaf: “The Donkey is the best poem.” It’s one of those poems you learn as a child that stays with you always - your understanding of it deepens on different levels with the years. That is the simple beauty of all great poetry.
Edel Cleary