Donkeys on the Sand

They hang their heads as if in prayer, their ears

Laid back in docile meekness, and their eyes

Closed against all the folly of mankind.

There at the rail they stand, while shouts and cheers,

Screaming and laughter, fill the air with cries,

And to the modern world are deaf and blind.

When it is time, urged on by slaps and jeers,

They trot obediently bearing the thighs

Of children who great satisfaction find

In sitting where One sat ‘mid palms and spears.

Do they, whose cross-burned pelts small boys bestride,

Feel in some deep recesses of their soul

A sort of dedication, dim and droll,

To serve with patience all for whom He died?

 

Weekly Times     5.8.60