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A
Poem in Honor of St Brigid
Her
habit is
a
dancing dress,
her
prayer beads, tinkling bells.
She
settles in
the
sun’s caress,
and
drinks from ancient wells.
Her
abbey is
a
grove of oak,
deep
in a forest glen.
From
here the Winds
of
Wisdom spoke,
from
here She’ll speak again.
Her
bread’s a hearty
cake
of oat,
Her
wine’s a honey meade.
She
gives away
her
shoes and coat,
the
hungry she does feed.
Her
altar is
a
peasant’s heart,
draped
in Love’s linen, fair.
The
Queen of Heaven,
Prince
of Peace,
and
angels meet her there.
Her
mantle is
the
meadow green,
all
creatures are her friends.
Those
once forgotten,
now
are seen,
their
brokenness she mends.
Her
sacred well’s
a
lake of ale,
with
roses all around.
Her
faith, a currach
setting
sail,
her
soul is Holy Ground.
Her
crozier is
a
wand of light,
her
mitre; made of fire.
The
Shepherdess of good
and
right,
compassion
and desire.
Her
smile’s a message
of
God’s care,
and
Love that knows no end.
Dear
Anamchara of Kildare,
Saint,
Abbess,
and
Soul-Friend.
Image: "The Lagan Meadows in all their summer glory" (July 2009) by K. Mitch Hodge. (Lagan Meadow, Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K.)
Note: This poem was posted by Paul Neeley on Godspace blog: “A Prayer and a Poem in the Spirit of St Brigid” on July 28, 2016. He wrote:
‘Here’s a poem in honor of St. Brigid written by ‘Brigid Claire Oak’ which I found through the Facebook group ‘Celtic Christian Tradition.’ She has given permission to share it here: She notes, “The words came with a little melody and I do sing it, but it is not set to music in an official sense.”’
I have tried to track down the author of the post and the author of the poem, to no avail. I post them here in the hope that anyone who sees it who knows her may let me know and I can pursue permission retrospectively. Although most of the readers of Stone on the Belly are Pagan, I like to post Christian prayers and poems now and then to show another side of her cult. This one has some particularly lovely bits I wanted to share with you.