Like the Shephard with his flock
St Francis of Assisi gives a benignant address;
The cathedral of the skies in thrall, cluster- cloistral
Athwart a quiver, dart hither and thither, muster-mistral
Twittering plumes descending
Leafy turrets athresh the ingress; kindling
In the diocese of boughed and blessed trees;
Whence wise oratories extolling
The glory of God, redound: (Author of created things- astound!)
Wellspring profound, the saint expounds,
His cronicles with holy zeal:
The abundance of his weal
‘Then shall the trees of the wood sing
out at the presence of the LORD,
because he cometh to judge the earth’.
He restoreth the arid streams and firth
Like a garment lapping the bosom of his infinite bays:
Channels of his safe harbour, whence the spring strays
The middle of the valley, tapers to the reaches of tall mountains:
Inaccessible; certes secure, way up high, in the altars of the lord,
Splendid nature, in flourishin’ grove; protection for the young
Each with his mate dwelling among
The canopies, in amplitude: The Mighty enabler
Proclaims this to make ye nobler!’
HIS virtues roused the chattering chorister,
The roost of rawkus Rooks, rise a’riot
The chackling Crows and Starling shrill, reprise
In sweet dulcet chirping of the *Eos Awen, allies
The composition: Commotion: squall and cries,
Stirs the brooding Ravens croak, in oaken aviaries;
Assemblin’ cacophony gives ear: auspices of August patrimony
Intonation a’thundering and chanting devotion, awoke
The sacred breasted robin: imbrued breastplate of the king
The bobbin’ warbling wren: all feathered a’swoonin’-kin.
A turtle-dove with myrtle sprig ascends aloft
Like a cherubim spreads its wings, oft
Abiding in majestic summits toward his eminence;
The rainbow end whence stars distend in halig pastures:
The Lord’s love transcends all understanding and overtures!
* welsh for 'poetic nightingale'
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The sermon to my sister birds
PoetrySt Francis was traveling with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to "wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds". The birds surrounded him, d...
