Boxwood Beads   I love medieval art — on a grand scale, behold the gothic cathedrals and castles, the abbeys and chapels, all those vast tapestries of battle scenes with chainmail heroes on mighty steeds, those fleets of sailing ships bound for adventure, those stained-glass windows that paint with light, made to outlast time itself and sure that God will prevail. But miniatures are what I love the most — like Petrarch with his little songs that turned his passion into labyrinths of rhyme, and nameless monks, seized with the Holy Ghost, carving boxwood rosary beads while burning with quiet fire. God knows they took their time.     © Michael Fleming Dummerston, Vermont April 2026