The Voyage of Saint Brendan Drawing

The Voyage of Saint Brendan

Do you know anything about Saint Brendan? Fascinating character! I was inspired to draw this by Frederick Buechner's novel, Brendan.

A friend of mine, Kristie Hayes, wrote this poem, inspired by my drawing of Saint Brendan:

The Voyage of Saint Brendan and Me

On this bumpy voyage, alone I must travel
Riding the waves of my fears, dreams, truths, and hopes
Which at the end will either remain or unravel
Even with the fear of knowing the creatures will take me under I
have to set sail knowing the risks
Of making the slightest misstep or major blunder.
With each passing mile, I will lose a little piece of who I was before.
Grief and relief will comingle at this points,
But with each passing mile,
I will know the real me a little bit more.
I will wish someone could do this for me when I am tossed around
And holding on for dear life amidst the turmoil
But it is a necessary process in which my own resolve will be found.
And there will be moments when
I look out and all is calm in my personal sea
Thinking I am almost there,
Until things get rough again,
and realize I am not yet quite free.
When I see land on the horizon,
I will be taken over by peace
Knowing that I have made it
But knowing I still have a little more to conquer in these seas
Eventually, I will come back home, having changed by becoming more true,
And look back grateful for the journey I feared
Knowing in order to really live, it was something I had to go through.
(Poem by Kristie Hayes, used with permission.) 

Click on the image to see the print!