Reader feedback

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.  It's a hugely significant time for all of us, but not least for people who are suffering.  Because of course it's the beginning of Jesus' journey to the cross, as the old Palm Sunday hymn has it, 'Bow thy meek head to mortal pain' - i.e. God himself is choosing to experience human pain.  It's simply untrue that God looks at our plight from afar.  Of course, Good Friday is when he died precisely to deal with our mess - which is why it's called good.

Occasionally I get a letter or an email from someone who has appreciated My Donkeybody.  This week I had a nice one from someone in Holland who has a type of Parkinson's.  He especially liked the 'Thumbs Up' chapter.

He sent a poem with an explanatory note.  I thought this photo of advancing spring was relevant.
Slow Dance.  
My correspondent didn't know the copyright holder etc but my friend Richard has pointed out that the account I originally gave when I posted this entry (about a girl on her death bed) was from hoax chain letter, and that the poem was actually written by David L. Weatherford and published by the Russ Berrie Company in 1991. Weatherford copyrighted the work with the Library of Congress in 2001. It starts:


Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.


You get the idea.  It's a nice, not a great poem.  The rest is in a similar vein.  Enjoy life; don't consume it.