Latest / The Daily Poem / Francis Jammes’ “A Prayer to Go to Paradise with the Donkeys”

Transcript

Francis Jammes’ “A Prayer to Go to Paradise with the Donkeys” · The Daily Poem

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  [music]
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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Friday, August 28th, 2026.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's poem is by French poet Francis James.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's translated by the great American poet Richard Wilbur.
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  SPEAKER_00: So you got a twofer today.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's called A Prayer to Go to Paradise with the Donkeys.
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  SPEAKER_00: Shams was known for the lyricality of his poems,
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  SPEAKER_00: and he was also known for his great love of rural topics, farm maidens, and donkeys.
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  SPEAKER_00: Later in his life and career,
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  SPEAKER_00: he experienced a religious reawakening that led to a new presence
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  SPEAKER_00: of spiritual elements in his poetry,
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  SPEAKER_00: and today's poem is a great example of all of those things happening together.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here is the poem.
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  SPEAKER_00: A prayer to go to paradise with the donkeys.
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  SPEAKER_00: When I must come to you,
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  SPEAKER_00: oh my God,
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  SPEAKER_00: I pray it be some dusty roaded holiday,
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  SPEAKER_00: And even as in my travels here below,
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  SPEAKER_00: I beg to choose by what road I shall go to paradise,
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  SPEAKER_00: Where the clear stars shine by day.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'll take my walking stick and go my way,
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  SPEAKER_00: And to my friends the donkeys I shall say,
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  SPEAKER_00: I am Francis James,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I am going to paradise, for there is no hell in the land of the loving God.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I'll say to them, Come,
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  SPEAKER_00: sweet friends of the blue skies,
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  SPEAKER_00: poor creatures who with a flap of the ears or a nod of the head shake off
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  SPEAKER_00: the buffets, the bees, the flies.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let me come with these donkeys, Lord,
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  SPEAKER_00: into your land,
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  SPEAKER_00: these beasts who bow their heads so gently and stand
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  SPEAKER_00: with their small feet joined together in a fashion utterly gentle,
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  SPEAKER_00: asking your compassion.
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  SPEAKER_00: I shall arrive,
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  SPEAKER_00: followed by their thousands of ears,
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  SPEAKER_00: followed by those with baskets at their flanks,
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  SPEAKER_00: by those who lug the carts of mountebanks,
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  SPEAKER_00: or loads of feather dusters and kitchen wares,
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  SPEAKER_00: by those with humps of battered water cans,
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  SPEAKER_00: by bottle-shaped she-asses who halt and stumble,
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  SPEAKER_00: by those tricked out in little pantaloons to cover their wet blue galls
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  SPEAKER_00: where flies assemble in whirling swarms, making a drunken hum.
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  SPEAKER_00: Dear God,
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  SPEAKER_00: let it be with these donkeys that I come,
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  SPEAKER_00: and let it be that angels lead us in peace to leafy streams where cherries tremble
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  SPEAKER_00: in air,
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  SPEAKER_00: sleek as the laughing flesh of girls,
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  SPEAKER_00: and there in that haven of souls let it be that,
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  SPEAKER_00: leaning above your divine waters,
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  SPEAKER_00: I shall resemble these donkeys,
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  SPEAKER_00: whose humble and sweet poverty will appear clear in the clearness
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  SPEAKER_00: of your eternal love.
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  SPEAKER_00: This has been The Daily Poem.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back next week with more poetry for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Till then,
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• 3:07
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• 3:09
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• 3:15
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• 3:15
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• 3:16
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• 3:17
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• 3:18
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• 3:29
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• 3:33
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  SPEAKER_00: For all of us at Goldberry Studios, I'm Sean Johnson wishing you happy reading.