Questions to the Prophet by R. S. Thomas

How will the lion remain a lion

if it eat straw like the ox?


Where will the little child lead them

who has not been there before?


With our right hand off, with what

shall we beg forgiveness in the kingdom?


How shall the hare know it has not won,

dying before the tortoise arrive?


Did Christ crying ‘Neither do I condemn thee’,

condemn the prostitute to be good for nothing?


If he who increases riches increases sorrow

why are his tears more like pearls than the swine’s tusks?


by R. S. Thomas

from Mass for Hard Times (1992)