Saturday, March 17, 2012

BEANNACHT NAOMH PADRAIG ORAIBH GO LEIR*

*(Pronounced like: BINAUGHT NAYUV PAWDRIG URIV GU LAYER)
[THE] BLESSING OF SAINT PATRICK ON YOU ALL

And another blessing, in the Irish tradition of conferring hopes on the one being blessed with the word may, this from John O'Donohue:

Beannacht
("Blessing")

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 in to 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 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.


The Youtube link is of John O'Donohue reading "Beannacht" during his last interview, which was with Krista Tippett, an Anam Cara writer-in-residence, on her NPR programme "Speaking of Faith."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvS2LYbZLQ&feature=player_embedded

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