Pilgrimage by Haiku

On the Wednesday of our week in Iona, we went on a pilgrimage walk around the Island led magnificently by Meg and Martin Wroe. We read extracts from ‘Around a thin place: an Iona pilgrimage guide’, the first of which makes a suggestion that writing a haiku for each stop of your journey can be a good way to meditate on your way.

I took this rather to heart, and so what follows is my record of this day, as told by haikus.

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Ronald Rae’s Fallen Christ

Christ is there in view

Of the kitchen and the door

Grounds our daily lives

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St Martin’s Cross

Ever-changing sky

Ever-changing day and hour

Ever-constant cross

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The Nunnery

/

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Crossroads

At the meeting place

Decide your next steps and go

Journey on with grace

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East

Find a new coastline

Let the horizon lift you;

Renew your spirit

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Quarry

White green-veined marble

Hewn into holy altar

Old ancient beauty

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Walking

Martin said to us:

“The future is just ahead”

Yes indeed… lunchtime.

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St Columba’s Bay

Pebbles, pebbles, and

More pebbles, pebbles, pebbles.

St Columba’s bay.

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Loch

Silent single file

Walking towards blue water

Alone together

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Machair

White and yellow dots

In the field of the Machair

Content like the sheep

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Hill of the Angels

Not a little mound

But the “hill of the angels”

Occupied by sheep

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Grace for the end of the day

Nice fish tablecloth

We all love Anna’s dinner

Praise the Lord. Amen.