What The Donkey Saw

A poem reflecting on the Nativity written from the point of view of the donkey or the ox

An ass’s tale I have to tell,

Aye, have to tell,

Of how, upon that first Noel,

I witnessed something wild:

In dazzling starlight, bright as day,

That new-born, on a bed of hay,

Was, in some odd, peculiar way,

No ordinary child.

And then I saw what some might see,

Aye, some might see,

In generations yet to be

When midnight’s church bells peal.

Not doubting then what met my sight

Nor weaving some fair fancies’ flight

But, filled with wonder on that night,

I saw the oxen kneel.