"Saint Francis and the Birds," by Seamus Heaney

When Francis preached love to the birds
They listened, fluttered, throttled up
Into the blue like a flock of words

Released for fun from his holy lips.
Then wheeled back, whirred about his head,
Pirouetted on brothers’ capes.

Danced on the wing, for sheer joy played
And sang, like images took flight.
Which was the best poem Francis made,

His argument true, his tone light.

+ Seamus Heaney

Winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, Heaney was one of the most celebrated Irish poets of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this playful take on Francis’ playful sermon, one poem imitates another — not so much describing the saint’s homily as invoking it, bringing it into the present, fluttering wings around our heads.

As Francis’ feast day approaches (October 4), pair this poem with Galway Kinnell’s “Saint Francis and the Sow.” The fresco above is by Giotto, and may be found in the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy.