Something Beautiful

What little thing of beauty do you keep in your mind for those harder days? Do you have a song, a memory or a ritual? Something you keep close to your heart, a garden of favorite things you can return to over and over?

For me, this poem by Irish philosopher John O'Donahue is always there. Written for his mum, the title Bennacht, Gaelic for Blessing, is something beautiful. And, if you haven't heard it, or you could do with another listen, his On Being interview is pure balm for your ears & heart. 

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 grey 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 currach of thought
and the 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'Donahue