Saint Francis and the Birds Inspired, perhaps, by the sights and sounds of bird-flight around the areas in front of Italian cathedrals and churches, Heaney celebrates an admired religious figure’s relationship with the natural world. The saint’s mission to spread his message is not dissimilar to that of the poet. In the poem’s setting, the eponymous Francis preached love to the birds. Using the cleric’s mystical reputation for communication, Heaney fuses words and birds into a surreal visual animation: having listened they took off, fluttered, throttled up/ … like a flock of words/ Released for fun from his holy [...]