“With Monstrous Head and Sickening Cry”

Having just finished re-reading G. K. Chesterton’s Autobiography, my mind is still reeling with his view of life. Here is one of his funniest poems, entitled, simply, “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.   

The last quatrain refers to Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on the original Palm Sunday, mounted on a donkey.