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St Gobnait and the Bees

by Christine Valters Paintner

She treasures their golden gift, mixing herbs to make medicine for sisters with coughs, guests with aches, even the itchy Abbey dog. She measures carefully not wasting a drop, each spoonful labor of hours, her bees love her too, she always leaves plenty for them when she gathers purple heads of clover, yellow dandelion faces, yarrow’s tiny white blooms, she does not need to reach, just waits for wind to bend blossoms toward her, accepts their offering with thanks, marvels each summer day how quickly the plants grow as if gulping down moonlight all night, morning dew offers another elixir. One quiet day cattle rustlers come and Gobnait nods to her buzzing friends who quickly swarm and sting, swiftly restore the sanctuary, then return to savor sweetness hiding under each petal for those who know where to look.

Christine Valters Paintner is a Benedictine oblate living in Galway, Ireland with her husband where they lead pilgrimages to sacred places. She is the author of twelve books of nonfiction on contemplative practice and the arts and her poems have been published in journals in the U.S. and Ireland including Tiferet, Anchor, Presence, Spiritus, and U.S. Catholic. Her first collection of poems, Dreaming of Stones, was published by Paraclete Press. Her latest poetry collection is “The Wisdom of Wild Grace” from Paraclete Press. You can find more of her writing and poetry at AbbeyoftheArts.com.

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