A PRAYER TO THE PEOPLE 

I am a hedgehog! Spiny, shy, curling, marcona spike-ball. And I retreat to my silent lair beneath the forest's undergrowth. I am well alone, and conscious solitude preserves my inventive fertility. No matter nowadays what iron cat's-tooth traps greedy man-hunters set against me, or what greater wolf-hungry beasts make a dash for my life - I need no more pity, it would only make me more tearful! 

I have become like one who is always doubting himself. My stubborn, stubborn bumble-foot is rubbed by the carpet-continence of mosses. I cannot let anyone bribe me. It is so good to have a forest around me in the south, full of excitement. Let every man be reconciled to my antlered thorns. 

But I am also a man: naive, hesitant, sickly, and beside the evil and the trampling I call upon you: beware, and if you can, protect me. What is a meaningful existence on earth worth if I am only myself?! If my companions are but grasses like spears, lady-mushrooms in hats, birds that chirp, or diamond-eyed stars?

Receive me into thy blessed and precious snow-fairy. Let me be a fertile and rich soil, and let me be covered with autumn's rusty leaves, or with a leafy leaf of the boughs, but be always by my side. Drip into me your new-found spiritual strength - for now I only show will and strength, and would doubtfully try to climb the wobbly ladder, if it existed! 

I would surrender myself unreservedly, happily, and withdraw my prickly thorns. From thy soft and tender angel palm, if thou wouldst lavish me with bountiful and unselfish love, - I can only let him know me who sees not only the jungle forests of my Enkidu body, like a protective shield, but the trembling, vulnerable man, who is constantly grinding himself inside!