St Francis and the Wolf*
The city trembled at the wolf
outside its gates, fangs
fierce, howling with hunger,
fur thick with blood.
Francis approaches softly,
palms open. When the wolf lunges
his breath stays slow and steady,
looks with eyes of love,
smiles and bows
and the beast whimpers,
licks the monk’s salty face,
tail a brown banner waving,
and follows Francis
through the streets
like an old friend,
to the wonder of all.
Except perhaps it’s not
such a wonder that
when we open the gate
to all that is fierce
and fearful inside us,
when we hold our hands
like begging bowls,
our hearts like candles,
the wolf within will want
to lay its soft head
upon our laps and we see
there is no more wolf and me
just one wild love,
one wild hunger.
Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,
Tomorrow we begin a four week writing journey to embrace the Wisdom of Wild Grace. This is an excerpt from the introduction to my poetry collection of the same name:
When I long for expansiveness and connection to something far greater than my own daily concerns and struggles, a walk by the sea or in the forest expands me.
We live in a time when Earth is threatened on so many fronts by human development. Slowly we seem to be awakening to the truth that our personal well-being is intimately woven together with the well-being of all creatures and plants. Many of us might have been taught by our religious traditions that humans have dominion over nature or that animals don’t feel pain or have souls.
The more we cultivate our own intimacy with the wild, the more we open to different truth. Wildness doesn’t mean we have to go out into the forest or travel long ways, the wild is a place within us.
Each poem here is a doorway into this inner wilderness, a call to sit and be present to what we discover beyond the borders of our neatly controlled worlds. Wildness is vulnerable, risky, spacious, and full of possibility. And this is where I invite you to sit and rest awhile and dwell with me.
I have long loved the stories of Christian saints who had a kinship with animals. They come mostly from the early Christian desert and Celtic traditions, but also feature later medieval saints like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Julian of Norwich.
Ever since I was a child, animals have offered a window into an aspect of the divine presence that is more intuitive, more instinctual, wilder. The monastic tradition held the conviction that this kind of connection and friendship with the animal world was a sign of holiness at work.
The heart of this collection is a series of poems inspired by the stories of animal and saint connections. I meditated with each story to listen to what they might reveal. Each story felt like a way into a new or renewed way of being in the world where nature is an intimate guide and companion. These stories remind me of some of the old fairy tales which hold wisdom for how to live well if we pay close enough attention.
What we need most right now is a revolution of love. We desperately need to fall in love with creation so that everything we do reflects this love. If reading these poems supports you to see the world in a new way, to make time to sit outside and cherish the breezes, or to fall more in love, then my heart is full of gratitude and gladness.
Journey with me over these next four weeks. We have a live opening session tomorrow followed by four weeks of daily prompts inspired by my saint and animal poems. Our Wisdom Council member Melissa Layer crafted an additional prompt for each day as well. If you’re looking for some creative inspiration, please join us!
I will also be leading our final monthly contemplative prayer service of the program year tomorrow and will be joined by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE
*Poem is from Christine’s collection of poems The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems (Paraclete)
Image from paid license with Canva
