My patron saint is Brendan the Navigator.
He’s the patron saint of whales.
If you know me well, you know I love that so!
He set sail from the west coast of Ireland in the 6th Century in a small, homemade boat.
He made it all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, only to discover that it wasn’t new.
People already lived there.
People beautiful in their humanness.
People human in their beautifulness.
People.
Like Brendan, I travel over the waters.
I look closely.
I listen carefully.
With the eyes of my heart.
Vide cordis oculis.
With the ears of my heart.
Audi cordis auribus.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret,” wrote Antoine de Saint Exupèry in The Little Prince, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
I want to see rightly with the eyes of my heart.
I want to hear rightly with the ears of my heart.
I want to discover what is essential.
If I can ever become a saint of anything, I want to become the patron saint of listening.
What beautiful, ingenious, wonderful, courageous things there are to see and hear in the world.
May we see and hear them.
trevor scott barton, audi cordis auribus, @leftfootpoemd. 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment