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lokifan_importI was going to post some Phillip Larkin today (he was grumpy, brilliant, and obsessed with porn: like us!) but I just had a nap, and during that nap I had a nightmare. I never have nightmares, and when I do they’re either about my family or very suspenseful. This was a hideously graphic one which involved, among other things, my crashing an actual bus with people in it because I was driving it via computer game, and seeing the hideously graphic death of a friend of mine (only in the dream, but it still hurt) and nameless year sevens, who were all run over by a train.
THANKS, BRAIN.
I was going to post something incorrigibly cheery – some John Asgard, perhaps – but truthfully the dream freaked me out enough that I want something to protect me.
St Patrick’s Rune by Madeleine de l’Engel
At Tara in this fateful hour,
I place all Heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness:
All these I place,
By God's almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness!
NB: there are a few different versions of this even within the book I took it from; it’s also based on the fourth verse of an hymn called “St Patrick’s Breastplate”.
It’s just gorgeous, isn’t it? The rhythm is awkward, at first, and hard to read aloud. But give it a few times, and it gets a certain appeal. The rolling rhythm makes it seem strong, to me: it’s the way it builds up all the natural protections (and I like the idea that these natural powers are benign, or at least resistant to unnatural darkness) then pauses. The final three lines and the declaration – all these things stand between me and you, you cannot reach me – I truly find very comforting. It’s also partly the memory of the book, of course; Madeleine de L’Engel is one of my favourite authors, and the poem brings with it warm and fuzzy associations of A Swiftly Tilting Planet. In that book, St Patrick’s Rune for Protection saves us from nuclear war.
And now, it’s just made me feel a lot better about my nightmare. Thanks, St Patrick, even if you didn’t like snakes much. :)
THANKS, BRAIN.
I was going to post something incorrigibly cheery – some John Asgard, perhaps – but truthfully the dream freaked me out enough that I want something to protect me.
St Patrick’s Rune by Madeleine de l’Engel
At Tara in this fateful hour,
I place all Heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness:
All these I place,
By God's almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness!
NB: there are a few different versions of this even within the book I took it from; it’s also based on the fourth verse of an hymn called “St Patrick’s Breastplate”.
It’s just gorgeous, isn’t it? The rhythm is awkward, at first, and hard to read aloud. But give it a few times, and it gets a certain appeal. The rolling rhythm makes it seem strong, to me: it’s the way it builds up all the natural protections (and I like the idea that these natural powers are benign, or at least resistant to unnatural darkness) then pauses. The final three lines and the declaration – all these things stand between me and you, you cannot reach me – I truly find very comforting. It’s also partly the memory of the book, of course; Madeleine de L’Engel is one of my favourite authors, and the poem brings with it warm and fuzzy associations of A Swiftly Tilting Planet. In that book, St Patrick’s Rune for Protection saves us from nuclear war.
And now, it’s just made me feel a lot better about my nightmare. Thanks, St Patrick, even if you didn’t like snakes much. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 11:27 pm (UTC):) I'm so pleased you like it! And LOL at this stuff being a starter guide. It is not a starter guide! It is shamelessly partisan! It is me picking my favourites! It is me totally ignoring whole movements!
That said, I'm wriggling with glee that you asked and if you feel the same way at the end of the month, I may well learn how to use PDF technology and put up a set for people to download. I think