This moving poem was sent to me by a friend who’s moved to Philadelpia. I had never heard of John O’Donohue so I looked him up in Wikipedia. Suggest you do too.

BEANNACHT

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 gray window

And the ghost of loss

Gets into you,

May a flock of colors,

Indigo, red, green

And azure blue,

Come to awaken in you

A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

In the curragh of 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 the earth be yours,

May the clarity of 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

From his books, To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)

Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Galway Bay

County Clare, Ireland