The Drumcliffe Cross, Ireland

The monastery at Drumcliffe a 8 km north of Sligo is where W.B. Yeats grave is, but it’s also famous for the Drumcliffe Cross. The monastery was founded by St. Columba,(St. Columcille).  There is a church but a young man was hawking Keats wares there.  I was   reminded of Jesus who threw  the money lenders out,of the temple.  There seems to be too much business in the sanctuary and not enough prayer and meditation.  The Drumcliffe Cross though was astonishing with truly amazing detail of the scriptural carvings.  They were painted in their day, like the sculptures on the Acropolis.  We see these minimalist stone remains and forget so easily that they were once brightly coloured, not  unlike Catholic sculptures of our day.
“Beloved to my heart in also in the west
Drumcliffe, at Culcinne’s strand”
is from a poem attributed to St. Columba. Laura and I walked along the river down from the Round Tower.  It was a lovely location. Sacred. Peaceful. We imagined monks in ancient times meditatively walking here.