Poor Poet’s Psalter

For centuries the Psalms have been a source of prayer, inspiration, comfort, thankfulness, challenge, and blessing. In the sixth century my ancestor, St. Columcille, copied a Psalter that is now the oldest book in Ireland. I have lived with the Psalms for more than 40 years. Last spring I wondered if I could put a few memorized lines of Psalm 90 into the form of a haiku, not thinking at all about making a book. Then I tried putting parts of a few more Psalms into haiku. Some months later there was a haiku for each of the 150 Psalms, and a few more too. The process was for me almost like playing. Perhaps playing and praying are not that far apart. Columcille must have discovered that too.