New Voyages of Saint Brendan the Navigator

by Walt Garlington (May 2025)

–
As a fervent preacher of the Gospel of Christ,
You in your little oxhide ship sailed to many lands,
Near and far, known and unknown, seen and hidden,
Adorning them with the beauty of God’s Grace
And receiving for yourself blessèd visions
And other delights – a foretaste of Paradise.
–
Passing to the next life, you entered
That Primordial Garden of the world
At the behest of God. He has granted you now
A wider sea to sail, the whole expanse of the heavens,
In a dazzling hollow half-sphere pearl trimmed with gossamer gold
And carried through the air by four radiant angels –
–
High above the ancient peaks of the mountains
And the twisting crowns of the eldest trees,
Through the clouds of many hues, rose, bronze, and milky white,
Through the fields of brightly shining stars
Arranged in mysterious patterns, a gold-fleeced ram, a mighty hunter,
Greeting Hesperus and Selene in the evening
And Eos and Helios when morning comes,
As they each rise purified from the stream
Of Oceanus encircling the girdle of the earth.
–
The Lord scattered manna like hoarfrost
Throughout the wilderness to nourish
The Israelites in the years of their wandering.
In this age He has ordained that we receive
Some of our sustenance from the Grace
That you bestrew as you glide upon the waves
Of the winds, singing hymns and offering prayers,
Grace that floats softly down upon us like tiny,
Glittering crystals from the high heavens.
Sail often, Great Brendan! Sail often,
That we be not deprived of the Grace you impart
As we traverse this world with its perils and storms!
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Walt Garlington was born and raised in that part of Dixieland called Louisiana. A chemical engineer by training, he has spent the last several years writing full-time. He has written essays and poems for The Hayride, New English Review, The Tenth Amendment Center, The Abbeville Institute, Reckonin’, Katehon, Geopolitica, and USA Really. He writes regularly at his own web site, Confiteri: A Southern Perspective.

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