Friday, March 16, 2007

For Tomorrow - Beannacht ("Blessing")

I can think of no finer blessing for St. Patrick's Day than the perfectly singing words of John O'Donohue, and so I hold them out to you on this morning before the "wearing of the green". Happy, happy St. Patrick's Day to each and every one of you, Irish or not.

On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders and you stumble, may the clay dance to balance you.

And when your eyes freeze behind the grey window and the ghost of loss gets into you, may a flock of colours, indigo, red, green, and azure blue come to awaken in you a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays in the currach of your thought and a stain of ocean blackens beneath you, may there come across the waters a path of yellow moonlight to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of Earth be yours, may the clarity of the light be yours, may the fluency of the ocean be yours, may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow wind work these words of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life.

John O'Donohue (Anam Cara), Echoes of Memory

4 comments:

GreenishLady said...

What a beautiful blessing! Thank you for echoing it back to the place of its origin, for me to hear.

jzr said...

Oh, how wonderful! Thank you for sharing this!

Anonymous said...

That's beautiful. I already feel more blessed, just having read it.

Marcie said...

Thank you for sharing that beautiful blessing. My daughter is an exchange student this year, and the line that says "may there come across the waters a path of yellow moonlight to bring you safely home" really touched me. How can something be so haunting and uplifting at the same time?