When we were in Belfast a few months ago, Gareth Higgins (who is an interesting and intelligent guy - check out his blog called god is not elsewhere) read out this blessing to us by John O'Donohue. I now have permission to blog it here. Its from his Anam Cara book. And if you like it, you might like his next book of blessings coming out later this year.
Beannacht
("Blessing") by John O’Donohue
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.
