For your work, you had light—
as much as could be gathered
in that northern isle—and color
under the too-often colorless sky
In scriptorium silence the passion sang
from within; steady hand, pattern-vision
as much a gift from above as the word
you enwrapped for all the world
The times cannot have been so dark—
vellum glows with intertwinings
of lapis, vermilion, shimmering gold:
revelation for centuries of souls
If you’d like to gaze at pages of this amazing manuscript–probably created in Scotland circa 800 A.D.–find it here in Trinity College Dublin’s digital library.
Graceful Press Poetry 
Oh wowza, isn’t this gorgeous!
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You are too kind. 🙂 I had such a hard time with this…the book is truly too beautiful for words.
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I’m almost sure I’ve heard a reference to it somewhere before, but my memory’s so awful that I can’t recall where or who–so, I may do a bit of research now, see if I can shake loose some brain cells!
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I am amazed by this poem. I do love the last stanza:
“The times cannot have been so dark—
vellum glows with intertwinings
of lapis, vermilion, shimmering gold:
revelation for centuries of souls”,
and especially the last line… thanks for sharing such graceful words.
Kind regards from France
FGM
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Thank you for visiting, and for your very kind words.
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