Feast Day of Saint Francis

 St Francis and the birds

When Francis preached love to the birds,

they listened, fluttered up into the blue

like a flock of words,  released for fun from his holy lips.

They wheeled back, whirred about his head,

pirouetted on brother's capes,

danced on the wing for sheer joy, played and

sang like images took flight.

Which was the best poem Francis made,

his argument true, his tone light.

Seamus Heaney 1939 - 2013