Fr La’s weekly ‘Pause and Ponder’ from along the Pilgrim Path at Lough Derg. This week’s reflection – ‘Support Structure’.   

It was the fresh green growth that caught my eye:

wild woodbine on the move. 

In a twisting caress the strands of an earlier season

embrace each other in mutual support.

Over the weeks to come the emerging shoots

will make similar progress to reach the light and air,

with helpful nearby shrubs to lend a hand.

Come July, in the full flush of growth

this mutual support structure

will have disappeared from view

in a welter of anonymous surrounding greenery.

What will then draw my attention irresistibly

will be the sweet unmistakeable scent

of the flowers we call honeysuckle.

But for now this underlying structure is on view,

and I pause and ponder. 

Fr La Flynn

19 April 2021