poetry

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Thousands visit the Isle of Iona each year to spend time at Iona Abbey and to learn of the wonderful man known as St Columba or ‘Columcille’ meaning Dove of the Church, who founded the original abbey during the years he arrived from Erin - Ireland, in a quest to bring Christianity to Scotland where the Druids mostly held sway.

Colum was born of the princely clan of O’Neill, divided into two rival branches, Hi Neill of the North and the South O’Neill. Colum who was of the Hi O’Neill relinquished his royal status to enter the church. He defied an order by his superior Bishop Finian not to copy Finian’s own extremely rare copy of the Vulgate - Psalms and Gospels. Late one night, Colum is discovered in the church by Finian, copying the book. Bishop Finian is severely displeased.

Colum’s Superiors are further annoyed when Colum takes an active part in a fierce battle between the branches of Hi Neill and the South O’Neill, during which three thousand die. In expiation of his sin, Colum feels compelled to make a penance to God. He is to leave Erin and spread the gospel across Dalriada and Alba - now known as Scotland.

With twelve chosen companions he sails to Iona, where he founds his monastery. Over the long years ahead he fearlessly spreads the good news of Jesus by whose sacrificial death and resurrection, mankind may receive forgiveness of their sins. Many wondrous miracles are performed, and heavenly visions observed, in a breathtaking saga that will touch all hearts.

The author of this work has long been fascinated by the life of C.S. Lewis which she has now compressed into verse, following him from early childhood in Northern Ireland with his parents and brother Warnie - then on to World War One, and the horror of war in the trenches, through to his many years as a tutor at Oxford University.

His extraordinary talent as a writer is explored, together with his early determined atheism and eventual surrender to belief in The Eternal One. He developed a friendship with other distinguished writers especially Tolkien as they formed a group known as ‘The Inklings’ where original work was read and criticised forming a platform for his first airing of The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was later filmed and loved by countless audiences.

An elusive feeling of joy first sensed as a child when he created his secret world of Boxen and experienced on few subsequent occasions is felt again when he meets and marries Joy Gresham. Filled with despair at Joy’s death from cancer he questions his belief in a loving God but gradually accepts the reality. He dies a few years later. So much more is to be found in Hilda’s verses which will touch the hearts of many of those who love and respect the memory of C.S. Lewis.

Hilda has been writing poetry since her early childhood years. The verses presented here are a collection of imaginative story poems composed during an adventurous lifetime on a variety of diverse subjects and situations including the poignant The Ballet Shoes----The Old Violinist----Grey Wolf----Greek Island----The Flood----Barnaby Cat----The Wraith of Bowmere’s Lake----The Missing Bride----The Moor.