Bless.

Dürer, Young Hare, 1502

MISSAE

I bless myself in the name

of the deer and ox,

the heron and the hare,

evangelists of land and wood

and air.  The fox as well, that red predator of chickens, prey of cars.

And the salmon and the trout sleeping in the reeds.

When the Wren wakes, I'll ask

her blessing, and if she comes out

she'll bring it.  The squirrel buries 

when she thinks no one else can

see.  I bless myself in her secrecy.

There's a fieldmouse I've seen 

scampering at dusk, picking up the seeds

dropped by the finches and the tits

throughout the day.  Some nest of frenzy

waits her kindness and her pluck.

I go in the name of all of them,

their chaos and their industry,

their replacements, their population,

their forgettable ways, their untame natures,

their ignorance of why,

or how, or who.

Pádraig Ó Tuama, from Kitchen Hymns