Writing Brigit


Writing Brigit

Many years ago I wrote my first Brigit prayer. Poem. Blessing... I have been writing them ever since, but seldom publish them. Some are carefully researched and crafted, some are simple and straight from the heart. (Belated update: I did eventually publish a book called A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars. It contains many of my Brigit poems and prayers, essays, and resources.)

The prayers and blessings of my sisters in the Daughters of the Flame and other Brigit-loving women and men, living and long-dead, fill me with surprise and delight, as well.

I would like to share some of these writings with you.

Following is the one that signs off each of my emails, a reminder to guide my words and intentions with care when I write to anyone. It's as good a place to start as any.


Flame Offering

In the name of the three Brigits

I light the candle of my heart

May I offer it to everyone

gentle and steady

warm and bright



22 July 2018

“Brigid” by Lucy Brennan


“Brigid”

A wave flounces over a rock,
folds and settles itself in a rush of silk.

Soon a corm in earth's womb will burst
and crack its frozen crust.

On a blue day you feel
the movement towards light,

when a fish pokes above water, when a hawk,
lean from winter pickings, broods over holes,

when you look down on matted leaves
and a sprout pushes through,

when you look out and dive on a seal's curve,
surface on a swallow's breast.

I stand with you among brown reeds
on the edge of the lake and watch two swans,

ice statues until a wing breaks free.









The Poetry Ireland Review, No. 53 (Summer, 1997), p. 18.

Image: "Can be seen at Ecomare on Texel island in The Netherlands," by Rene Cortin (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons