St Bridgid Stand Before Me
Lyrics
St Bridgid stand before me
St Bridgid stand behind
Illuminate the darkness
Illuminate my mind
Bring comfort to the mother
bring comfort to the child
Lay blessings on our conflicts
‘Till all be reconciled.
She gave the lepers apples
And fed the starving man
By trading great treasures
Her healing she began
She hung upon a sunbeam
The cloak that got the land
And made the great oak holy
Touched by her pure hand
Give in love’s equality
For failings come atone
That all will have their needs met
Strike silver against stone.
Grant kindness to your neighbor
Forgiveness to your kin
That the winter cold be broken
And the sunlight ushered in.
St Bridgid stand before me
St Bridgid stand behind
Illuminate the darkness
Illuminate my mind
Bring comfort to the mother
bring comfort to the child
Lay blessings on our conflicts
‘Till all be reconciled.
Leave out a fine silk ribbon
the night that heralds spring
that the lady when she’s walking
Lay hands upon the string
To bring us protection
and to keep us from ill
Through her feast day passes
she is with us still
Brigid bring us bounty
Of milk and butter gold
Generosity to creatures
Protection from the cold
Thankfulness for water
From which will come the beer
And patience with each other
Throughout the growing year.
St Bridgid stand before me
St Bridgid stand behind
Illuminate the darkness
Illuminate my mind
Bring comfort to the mother
bring comfort to the child
Lay blessings on our conflicts
‘Till all be reconciled.
Unsure where to start, I decided to lean into the day, which is the Feast of St. Brigid and Imbolc. This modern prayer to St. Brigid includes references to many of the miracles attributed to her.
Here’s a translation of a document which contains all over her miracles if anyone is interested. It’s pretty entertaining.
https://brigitssparklingflame.blogspot.com/2015/01/vita-sanctae-brigitae-cogitosuss-life.html
I accompanied myself on a reproduction of an Anglo-Saxon style six-string #acoustic #lyre, which would have been an instrument played in the time of the original St. Brigid, 451 – 525 CEE. (The oldest lyre found in England dates before 450 CE.) The tune is, of course, modern #folk and not remotely medieval, even if the subject is.
I am just learning to play this instrument, and I’m still not comfortable with it yet, especially when strumming it, rather than plucking like playing the harp.
My voice is recovering from being in a very large indoor event a few days ago, so it’s rougher than I prefer, but it’s FAWM, so I gotta just do what can be done! #firstfruits must come from somewhere!
This was darn near a #folk #acoustic_one_take – I had to edit out one section that I really made a mess of, so it’s a one-point-five take.
( Anyway, this is actually kind of a bold start for me, because I’m in rough voice on an instrument I don’t play well, at 1am, and it’s my FAWM debut for 2024. Actually, I guess that’s a pretty good start after all for a #singer_songwriter . =) )