Equus Asinus

Rubí has been writing the occasional Tuesday blog post for nearly three years now.  She first suggested the idea in December 2014 in an inspired moment when she decided to address Pope Francis on the subject of global warming.  Since then, she has written blogs about Big Things and little things and today’s blog is like a little thing that is really a Big Thing.  Rubí ponders the passing nature of all earthly things including the Interweb and carrots.  And she contemplates Paradise. 

We thank Luisa Navarro for sending the poem by Francis Jammes.

Morris tells me he and Aitana are now famous on YouTube since their rood and norty antics were videoed last February; and they have had more than one and a half million views.

«Is this true?» I asked our Peasant.

The Peasant said it was true: «More than one and a half million: we’re coming up to one million seven-hundred thousand views.»  And it must be true because a boy in Year 9 told the Peasant while he was on lunch time duty in the dining hall. And boys in Year 9 know more about computers and the Interweb than anyone, or so they think.  They don’t know as much about computers as the girls in Year 9, but they don’t realise that yet. They will find out when they are competing for jobs some time in the future.  Then they will realize that the girls were not wasting their time seeing how many views their teachers’ videos were getting on YouTube.  But I digress…

I’m not quite sure why anyone needs so many views: I am quite happy with a view of the valley and a view out of the stable where I can see if our Peasant is bringing food.  On our old field I had a sea view.  I used to enjoy looking down to the sea and imagining the Phoenicians arriving on a white-sailed galley bringing exotic carrots from Tyre and Sidon.

Although I can’t see the sea any more, there are mountain views from our field and it is possible to see several different views from the same spot, by revolving.  I do this every day and I can get twelve different views an hour.  Which is not quite one and a half million views but it is quite enough.  More views than that and you’d get quite giddy.

This morning our Peasant saw that Luisa Navarro had put a French pome on the comments.  The Peasant liked the pome so much that he said I should put it on my blog.  «To do this,» he announced, «we must go for a walk in the valley and video the pome.  This will symbolise walking to Paradise with a donkey.»

That seemed like a good idea to me.   A walk is an opportunity to eat things. Eating things symbolises donkey Paradise.  So we had a clearly agreed plan.

I’m not too sure about the Peasant’s French accent, but here is the video of the pome.

In Paradise I think the number of views increases very fast.  In fact, if I was to turn round and round and round in Paradise, going through 360 degrees, then turning through four dimensions, I would get millions of views and it would last for eternity.

That makes me feel quite giddy, so I’m going to eat a lemon.

Francis Jammes: Here is the full poem.  And a very poor English translation: Prayer to go to Paradise with donkeys.