Fr La’s weekly ‘Pause and Ponder’ from along the Pilgrim Path at Lough Derg. This week’s reflection – ‘Pilgrim Rhododendrons’.
Pilgrim Rhododendrons
Rhododendron home is in the Himalayas.
So pretty in full bloom we made them welcome,
never knowing just how they could spread.
The one on the Island was not planted there.
A seed came as a pilgrim, I suppose.
But pilgrims do not put down roots. He did!
His blooms are past their best this windy June.
More sheltered on the shore behind the Well
they put on quite a mauve-and-purple show,
a backdrop to the pilgrim rags that decorate the branches.
Their very vigour is perhaps a prayer
for those who come for healing and for hope.
Fr La Flynn
28 June 2021