An Irish Welcome (13th Century)

 

Hospitality in Ancient Ireland
Anonymous verse from the 13th century (translated by Kuno Meyer)

O King of stars! Whether my house be dark or bright, Never shall it be closed against any one, Lest Christ close His house against me. If there be a guest in your house And you conceal aught from him, ‘Tis not the guest that will be without it, But Jesus, Mary’s Son.

Trees are sanctuaries.

Trees are sanctuaries.

Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.

They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life.

The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark.

I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.

A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me.

I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me.

I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.

When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts.

Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent.

You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home.

But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother.

Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all. (Hesse)