by Christine Valters Paintner
The holy man wanders the forest, in search of a place he can hear pine needles drop, and seeds crack open each spring. A white boar, said to be his muse, joins him, calls forth songs and poems daily from the hermit’s heart. Does he find inspiration in how the beast’s nostrils steam with each breath sending up clouds of longing? Or the boar’s long tusks which slice through thicket and gleam like sunlight pouring from its face? Or how it roots in underearth for hidden things, bringing back gifts as if they were jewels? Or the way the boar’s fierce face softens each time the monk places a hand on its brow, wiry and coarse, when others had always pulled back?
Christine Valters Paintner is a Benedictine oblate living in Galway, Ireland with her husband where they lead pilgrimages to sacred places. She is the author of twelve books of nonfiction on contemplative practice and the arts and her poems have been published in journals in the U.S. and Ireland including Tiferet, Anchor, Presence, Spiritus, and U.S. Catholic. Her first collection of poems, Dreaming of Stones, was published by Paraclete Press. You can find more of her writing and poetry at AbbeyoftheArts.com.
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