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Le Gland et la Citrouille
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The Acorn and the Pumpkin

What God does he does well. Proof comes straightway to mind.
Without our having to search through creation:
In pumpkins it’s right there to find.
A Countryman, in contemplation
Of this plant, with stem so tiny on such bulky fruit,
Said, "What thought could the Maker of all this have had?
He’s put this pumpkin in a place that’s oh so bad!
I’d have hung it, it’s more astute,
From one of these oaks here, begad!
It would have been the proper way:
Like fruit, like tree is what I always say.
It’s too bad, Garo, that you did not participate.
In plans of Him preached about by your curate.
All would have been better off: for example, why not serve
The Acorn, which is smaller than my little finger, by a lot,
By hanging it down in this spot?
God was mistaken: the more I do observe
Such fruits placed thus, the more to Garo it’s clear:
Things have been mixed up right here."
These thoughts were quite a burden for our chap.
"One’s kept awake," he said, "by such a brilliant mind, I know."
Under an oak he settled down at once to take a little nap.
An Acorn fell; the sleeper’s nose stung from the blow
And he woke up. Lifting his hand to his face at this boon,
He found the Acorn, still trapped in the hair on his chin.
The bruise on his nose obliged him to change his tune.
"Oh, oh, I’m bleeding!" he said. "And what a mess I’d be in
If what has dropped from this tree had had a heavier mass,
And this Acorn had been of the pumpkin class!
God didn’t will it so. No doubt at all, He’s not a dunce;
The reason why I’ve fully figured out."
Praising God for all things about,
Garo rushed back home at once.