This is an off-the-top-of-my-head post. Don’t think I’ve ever done one before! But have been chatting with a friend about an author we both appreciate, Stephen Lawhead. I see so many posts on here of people sharing their favorite quotes from their favorite writers. Our little comments this morning dredged a wonderful one up for me.
My favorite series by Lawhead is his Pendragon Cycle. It’s about King Arthur but actually begins with Merlin’s history in the book Taliesin. As the story wends its way through the books there’s a part where Merlin says a prayer for Arthur’s brave companions (knights) who fall in battle. It was so beautiful and affected me so much that I used it as my daily prayer during my Lenten devotions that spring.
The day before Easter I wrote Stephen Lawhead on a whim to tell him how much I had come to appreciate that prayer. The typed-out prayer is still on my desk where I can read it every day. I didn’t think that note would ever reach him, to be honest, but I got a lovely, handwritten letter back from him. It’s such a treasure. This is the prayer that Merlin would say:
Great Light, Mover of all that is moving and at rest,
be my Journey and my far Destination,
be my Want and my Fulfilling,
be my Sowing and my Reaping,
be my glad Song and my stark Silence.
Be my Sword and my strong Shield,
be my Lantern and my dark Night,
be my everlasting Strength and my piteous Weakness.
Be my Greeting and my parting Prayer,
be my bright Vision and my Blindness,
be my Joy and my sharp Grief,
be my sad Death and my sure Resurrection.
I loved the Celtic-ness about it. And when I would pray that prayer I figured I had covered all my bases. But then the Celtics were like that spiritually.
It always amazes me the different things that affect me from books. It’s such a tribute, I think, to an author to have something make such an impression on you that it changes who you are. That’s why To Kill A Mockingbird has always been my favorite book. The last book I read that did that for me was And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.
If you have a moment, pull up a rock and tell me what books have affected YOU that way.
~Calen
Impromptu Promptlings 
He has a way of taking the “mythical” and writing in an historical fiction style. I remember thinking when reading his books that it all felt connected with the Real in a way I had not experienced when reading others stuff. Like his words had the smell of ancient stone and wood fires, the warm musty fragrance of hidden oak groves and crumbling leather manuscripts, all at once. Fairy-tales married to earth and stone. I tended to leave his work with a long deep sigh, feeling richer, deeper, and well satisfied.
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Oh geez… That description just put me in the woods with a bunch of druids in the middle of an oak grove… I could feel and smell it all. Maybe you need to concentrate on writing some historical fiction stuff.
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I don’t know sugar (no offense that’s my culture) I think there may be something for me to do. Maybe even something serious someday but right now She told me to color. I forgot how to have fun and play.
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Reblogged this on Writer's Work Lab.
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Oh Calensariel, that’s such an incredibly beautiful prayer! Thank you so much for sharing this. I haven’t read this series (it sounds wonderful), but my favourite book about the Arthurian legends in “The Mists of Avalon”.
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Ah yes! Marion Zimmer Bradley. I read that one years and years ago. Seems like I’ve been reading about Camelot all my life. That and anything Celtic.
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