“St. Martin’s Cross” by Bonnie Thurston
It begins and ends here
with Martin who forswore the sword,
disliked the Chair to which he was obedient,
was gentle with heretics, loved hermitage,
took the cross to the Celts.
The shadow of the cross comforts
scars medieval cart wheels
cut in rough, rosy stones
that mark this sacred way.
Street of the Dead, Road of Kings:
two names for the same journey.
In this pilgrim life
we are royal in our dying,
rest grateful heads on the cross,
feel its blessed benediction.
—from Belonging to Borders: A Sojourn in the Celtic Tradition (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2011), p 33
[Image: “Szent Mártont ábrázoló ablaka (St. Martin’s window)” located in Pannonhalmi Bencés Főapátság (Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma, Hungary]