A Breastplate for St. Patrick’s Day
Today’s featured poem is the prayer written by Saint Patrick, which contains so many of the great and necessary elements of poetry, that I would call it a poem.
Just look at the almost Whitmanesque use of listing and repetition: “I arise today,” “I arise today,” until the more it is repeated it becomes clear that those three words are in themselves a prayer of gratitude and praise. It has a strong tone of incantation, like some of the best dramatic verse of Shakespeare. May it be a breastplate of strength and protection for all who recite it.