Fr La’s weekly ‘Pause and Ponder’ from along the Pilgrim Path at Lough Derg. This week’s reflection, ‘Three Mysteries’
Some weeks ago it is since first I noticed,
just over the stile, as the Path begins,
these shattered eggshell fragments.
Each time I pass the question comes again:
What happened here? From where might this have come?
Today I come upon another case:
before me on the Path beyond the well
a broken eggshell. I stoop to look and ponder.
Did the cuckoo rob this egg from a cosy nest
to leave a greedy uninvited lodger?
Or was it just a tidy mother bird
clearing her home after her chick had hatched?
Now past the quarry a third case comes to light.
Below the Path a white egg takes my eye –
unbroken, it seems, but when I look
I find the inside empty and I wonder:
What fellow forest creature has been fed?
Fr La Flynn, Prior
17 May 2021