"Grace Meets Power"

Creating God,

for those who are Wise

to the Ways of the Earth:

Thank You.

 For those who Listen 

to the Language

of the Tree, Rock, River, Earth,

Oceans, Stars, Creatures, Sky;

Praise.

Teach us the Vocabulary

to Convey our Care,

the Words to tell the Earth

we hear Her crying for Peace,

the Syllables of Solace

for All we have Lost,

the Gestures of Healing

for All we have Harmed.

~JAN L. RICHARDSON

~Beannaichte'

(4-30-12) 

"IMAGINE A WOMAN I"

Imagine a woman 
who believes it is right and good she is a

                                         woman.                                                                                                                                      

      A woman who honors her experience and tells  her stories. 

Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and

             life.                                                                            

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.

A woman who listens to her needs and desires.

Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who acknowledges the past's influence on  

                    the present.

A woman who has walked through her past.

Who has healed into the present. 

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.

A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own

            behalf.                                                                     

Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest

             voice.                                                                       

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.

A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.

 Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.

A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.

Who celebrates its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite

           resource.                                                               

Imagine a woman who honours the face of the Goddess in

            her changing body.                                                 

A  woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and

             her wisdom.                                                              

Who refuses to use her life-energy disguising the changes in

            her body and life.                                                     

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.

A woman who sits in circles of women.

Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

~PATRICIA LYNN REIILY

~Beannaichte'

(4-22-12)  

~ Robin, I wish you a truly Happy and Blessed day, on this, your` Special Day', and always!
Happy Birthday!
I Love You!
~Beannaichte'
24 April, 2012
   

               

"Soldier's Heart"

                         Those suffering from PTSD recognise the      range of side effects-
explosive anger, depression, desires to court danger in order to feel alive,
alienation. Like many returning veterans ,Muirchertach, Mael Duin, Sweeney and
Odysseus try to get home. Home is not just a place, but a return to civilian life,
the normal life, work, family, memories without pain, sleep without nightmares.
Like Muirchertach and Sweeney, Odysseus has bad dreams.
                          When we first encounter Odysseus he sits sobbing on a rocky
shore,his wet eyes scanning the bare horizon of the sea. When Kalypso offers
to help him,he doesn't trust her. He will `take no raft she grudges out to sea.'
As far as his wife and son know, he is dead; after all, he has been missing in action
for ten years. Stripped of fame, fortune, crew, even of his name, he is swept naked
onto an island where, out of hospitality, he is entertained with songs of the
Trojan War. He cannot stop weeping.
                          Before taking place in his home as husband and father, Odysseus,
takes on the role of the beggar and is received into a shepherd's house in the
forest. Part of his healing is to experience the despair and isolation of others.
Stripped down, he finds kinship with the poor and with animals; he is first recognised
by his loyal dog.This simplicity and identification with animals is a motif throughout
all the early stories about battle madness. When healed, Odysseus's instincts work
perfectly. Spectacular physical feats, such as shooting an arrow through a row of
spaced hatchet loops, would be impossible without grace. Healed, he sees clearly
and dispenses justice. Men show their true nature in his presence.
                             He puts an end to violence.
                                                                                           

                                                                                                       

                                                                                                           Patricia McDowell

~Beannaichte'

(4-10-12)

  

"Sisters"

We

are Sisters...

our memories

filled with the same images

of Family pets
braided hair and Kinsale Cloaks 

Holiday gatherings

and long car trips.

Sisters

with our own world of negotiations,

truces, pacts, secrets,

and looks of shared understanding,

United by a million everyday moments

that became

a Lifetime of Sharing.

We are Sisters...
And we need Never ask ourselves
who we are,
for in each other we can see
the girls we were,
the Women we have become,
how far we have Traveled
in our Journey Together.

And we know what only
Sisters can know...
that a Love that Grows 
through stages and phases
is Stronger for having been tested. 
That sticking together
works for almost anything Life can throw at us.
 That we Belong to each other
in a way we can never Belong to anyone else~ 
in a way that is Deep, and Lasting, and Real.
                                                      ~Unknown

~Beannaichte'
(4-5-12)  

~To Sharon, my Irish Twin. Is Brea' Liom Tu'!  ~Do Dheirfiur, Beannaichte' 

"The Realm Untenanted"

     EAVAN BOLAND STOOD HER GROUND AND CLAIMED HER TERRITORY. HER RIGHT TO BE A POET FOR THIS COUNTRY DID NOT NEED TO BE WON. IT WAS ANCESTRAL AND MADE SWEET BY NOBLE INTENTION. REGARDLESS OF HER SOCIAL-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND, SHE COULD TAKE AN INDIVIDUAL STANCE IN THE PRESENT, APPLYING HONESTY TO ALL THE  CONFLICTING ISSUES. IN ONE OF HER POEMS,`THAT THE SCIENCE OF CARTOGRAPHY IS LIMITED', SHE ADDRESSES HERSELF TO ONE OF THE CASUAL LIES, EVOCATIVE BECAUSE IT IS VERY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH-THE LIE BEHIND THE MAP. SHE REMEMBERS STANDING ON AN OVERGROWN FAMINE ROAD, ONE OF THOSE BUILT UNDER THE RELIEF WORKS AND LEFT UNFINISHED, AND COMMENTS THAT, ALTHOUGH THE ROAD IS A PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL REALITY, THE MAP DOES NOT SHOW IT. EVEN IF IT DID, THE FLAT REPRESENTATION OF THE LANDSCAPE COULD NOT COMMUNICATE THE STORY OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE LIVED IN IT.

     MY FEELING OF INADEQUACY, IN RETROSPECT, WAS EXACTLY THE TOOL I NEEDED IN ORDER TO LOOK AT THE FAMINE PERIOD. IT WAS A DIRECT LEGACY OF IT. AT THE TIME MY DILEMMA ENDED IN THIS LOGIC: THAT I WAS IRISH- HOWEVER INADEQUATELY OR IMPURELY-AND THAT I UNDERSTOOD OTHER TYPES OF HUNGER, SUCH AS LONELINESS, HOPELESSNESS, LOSS OF FAITH, DESIRE. THAT I WALKED THE SOIL, THAT MY ANCESTORS HAD ALSO WALKED THE GROUND OF THIS COUNTRY AS THEIR BASIC SUPPORT. THE OBJECTIVE FACTS OF THE FAMINE COULD BE READ IN A DEWFALL OF HISTORY BOOKS, BUT THE EMOTIONAL MEMORY MUST RESIDE IN THE EARTH. I LITERALLY ASKED THE GROUND TO BE MY GUIDE, CAME FROM MY OWN CLUMSILY TILLED LIFE TO DIVINE THE EARTH FOR SOME OF ITS SECRETS. I BEGAN THE FIRST POEM:

                   no matter how broken, the ground will transport me.

                                ~Maigread Medbh

                                  County Limerick,

                                   Ireland 

~Beannaichte' (4-1-12)