"But donkeys don't think do they?"
Chesterton thought they did. Fr. Neuhaus just quoted one of his series of animal poems in First Things this past week.
It's a great poem:
THE DONKEY
by: G.K. Chesterton
WHEN fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
And the donkey who saw the angel before Balaam did.