BROTHER RONAIN OF THE BIRDS
What dream fell over Ronain then?
Or did God's guiding whisper rather
Bid him go out from haunts of men,
Apostle to the folk of feather?
Or did God's guiding whisper rather
Bid him go out from haunts of men,
Apostle to the folk of feather?
Who knows? The last saw Ronain's face
Was Brother Aiden, who beheld him
Down by the rocks, a lonely place
Where the good brothers walked but seldom.
Was Brother Aiden, who beheld him
Down by the rocks, a lonely place
Where the good brothers walked but seldom.
And Aiden said a cloud of birds
Was circling round his head and habit,
Singing so sweet. "Perchance the Lord's
Good will hath rapt him," said the Abbot.
Was circling round his head and habit,
Singing so sweet. "Perchance the Lord's
Good will hath rapt him," said the Abbot.
They searched for him among the rocks,
Parted the seaweed o'er the shallows,
And dived in water depths where flocks
Of cormorants fished the ocean fallows.
Parted the seaweed o'er the shallows,
And dived in water depths where flocks
Of cormorants fished the ocean fallows.
But never a relic came to light
Of him, so they at last desisted,
And prayed that his dear soul so white
With Christ the Lord supped joy and rested.
Of him, so they at last desisted,
And prayed that his dear soul so white
With Christ the Lord supped joy and rested.
And Ronain, he was with his flock.
They built his house of shell and wattle
Against the brown lee of a rock,
That sheltered him from the wind's battle.
They built his house of shell and wattle
Against the brown lee of a rock,
That sheltered him from the wind's battle.
168
