Forget Me Nots and Blessings
I love a path like this one. I immediately want to follow it to see where it takes me. My friend Karen took this photo in her garden, over a decade ago. She said in her email, “This particular pathway is meant to slow you down, carefully putting one foot in front of the other, leading to a beautiful place, a place of rest.” This is good advice anytime.
Another dear friend Patricia sent me a copy of John O’Donohue’s Beannacht, around that same time. Bennacht is a Gaelic word meaning Blessing. I recommend that you listen to O’Donohue recite it, with his beautiful Gaelic accent. Music to my ears.
Tonight I am thinking of my dear friend Helga, whose spouse died three days ago. She is on the other side of the continent but this “Blessing” is not hampered by time or space.
“Our challenge is not to choose between the fragility and strength of life but to cultivate our wonder by holding both in our heart.” by Mark Nepo
Notes
Note: 1) The blue forget me nots appeared in the garden yesterday and conjured up all kinds of fond childhood memories of my Mother and sister.
Note: 2) For any of you dealing with cancer there is an interesting webinar Thursday night with Dr. Rob Rutledge, Radiation Oncologist and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University and Dr. Bernie Siegel, retired professor of surgery at Yale and the founder of Exceptional Cancer Patients. This will be an informative evening with two delightful presenters. It is 7:00 PM Eastern Time. (double check) The cost is $20.00 but anyone can register gratis if need be. Link to information and registration.
Note: 3) I am grateful to all my readers, for your continual show of support by stopping by here on Wednesday. There are many, many wonderful things to read in this digital age, and it all takes time. I appreciate the time and your kindness that you give to me. Warmest wishes to you and yours, Trudy
POEM
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.
~ John O’Donohue ~From Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom