Page 30 - Poetry-Animals

The Ass’s Flight

An Ass, with noble ardor fired
(For e’en an ass may be inspired ),
Standing in classic pose aloof
Upon his native stable’s roof,
With bray of loud triumphant sound
Summoned the gaping barnyard round.

“Dear friends,” the Ass began, “I call
You here together, one and all,
To view with strict, impartial eye
My earliest attempt to fly.
I know that when evolvent grace
Produced, in time, the Ass’s race,
Nature, so boon in other things,
By some strange chance omitted wings.
I know the smallest birds that fly
May pierce with ease the azure sky,
While we are destined from our birth
To walk the dull, prosaic earth.
Is theirs the praise? Not so, I trust;
They do but fly because they must:
Nor can they know—light, careless things—
The grandeur that from Effort springs.
How great is Effort! By its aid
This universal frame was made;
By Effort Nature brought to pass
Her last and noblest work, the Ass;
By Effort, too, as I opine,
The sun at morn begins to shine.
Since Effort then so much can do,
I mean to try its power too.
But first, before I take my flight
From off this ridge-pole’s dizzy height,
Perchance some one of you may ask
How to perform this glorious task.
First, then, you earnestly desire;
Second, you ardently aspire;
Thirdly, with all your heart you yearn;
Fourth, in your inmost soul you burn;

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