NEDE: "What art do you practice?"
FERCHETNE: "Hunting for the treasures of knowledge."
____ "Colloquy of the Two Sages" anon.
Irish poem (trans. John Matthews)
When young Nede (NAY'da) hears of his father's death, he returns from Scotland to take his poetic chair. To give himself a semblance of maturity, he sticks on a grass beard. But this fails to fool Ferchetne (Fer-KET'ne), who challenges him to a poetic contest.
Each poet throws challenging questions at the other: Nede's answers are aerobatically ambitious and self-vaunting, while Ferchetne's are sober, modest, and grounded in real practice, his prophetic insight far surpassing that of his junior. The dialogue concludes when Ferchetne asks Nede, 'Who is greater than yourself?' Casting off his false beard, tearing off his professional robe, Nede kneels at Ferchetne's feet, asserting that only God and the greatest of poetic prophets is greater. He cedes place to Ferchetne as his elder and puts himself under his protection.
To arrive at a position of mature power and discernment, like that held by Ferchetne, takes much practice and many years of experience. Nede tries to short-circuit the path of his own fledgling art by assuming a maturity that he does not as yet possess and is forced, out of humility and truth, to acknowledge that his elder has a better claim to the poetic chair than he does. The years lie ahead of him which will bring polish to the uncut gem of his inexperience.
It is practice alone that brings a burnished glow to our own rough-hewn skills; it is by continual application of our craft that they become jewels in their appropriate setting.
"Consider your particular skill or talent. Visualize this as a gem and meditate upon its appropriate
setting and context."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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