Writing on the Wild Edges – Participant Poems (Lucy Wilson)

This past April we led one of our Writing on the Wild Edges retreats on the beautiful island of Inismor off the coast of Galway. We will be sharing some of the writing which participants gave us permission to share here in the next few weeks. Up next are poems by Lucy Wilson.

(If you'd like to join us, we have our dates open for 2018 – August 26-September 1)

ST. CIARAN’S WELL AND CHURCH

At St. Ciaran’s holy well

my prostrated body stretched

till finger tips

touched holy water.

I brushed my forehead

a baptism of resurrection.

The well green-surrounded:

moss, ferns, wild herbs,

lush broad-leafed grass,

interspersed with sparkling

white daisies,

tangled vines joining rock walls

in mutual support.

Adjacent to all

an ancient church stands

juxtaposed between

etched stone slabs,

pre-Christian and Christian symbols.

Inside a stone altar

beckons me

to kneel and pray.

A side window

opens to the ocean

breath of a faint breeze

murmurs my blessing.

The bird chorus continues

its call and response.

In this sacred space

—time pauses—

I am engulfed in the eternal.

INIS MOR—April 22, 2017

The wild edge is gentle today

a caressing tender breeze,

slow undulation of a blue-grey ocean

stretching to a distant grey coast,

mountains—perhaps the Twelve Bens

looming in the distance,

birdsong blending with all.

“Be still and know…..”

A deep peace sweeps over me—

realization that I am being held

in the arms of God.

Paradise.

—Lucy Wilson