Where did you get that pearly ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.
Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into hooks and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherub's wings.
How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me, and so I grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought of YOU, and so I am here.
THE DISCONTENTED STONECUTTER
Adapted from the Japanese
Once upon a time there was a man who worked from early morning till late at night cutting building stones out of the solid rock. His pay was small and hardly enough to keep his wife and children from starving. So the poor stonecutter grew discontented and sighed and moaned bitterly over his hard lot.
One day when his work seemed harder than usual and his troubles more than he could bear he cried out in despair:
"Oh, I wish I could be rich and lie at ease on a soft couch with a curtain of red silk!"