Tom Snell Author, Beowulf’s Apprentice:A Cardiac Patient’s Spiritual Memoir
Thirty-five years after witnessing one young son battle and eventually beat cancer only to lose another to the disease Tom Snell, author of Beowulf’s Apprentice:A Cardiac Patient’s Spiritual Memoir, faced down the biggest fears of his life. When first told he would need to have open heart surgery at the age of 64 Snell had no idea the journey he was about to take. He would not only find the courage to confront the terror that gripped him as he tried to prepare himself for the operating table, he would slay his greatest demons and do so in a somewhat unconventional way. Surrounded by family, friends and a room full of strangers at the August 2009 Pizza and Prose Art and Literature Series, he bravely told the story of how he conquered his deepest fears and the treasures that would bring. Using the tale of Beowulf as his inspiration, his Quaker upbringing for support, and shamanic teachings as a guide, he delved down deep into places he had never fully explored. Among them, the guilt he felt at not supporting eight year-old Christopher well enough through the scary medical procedures he had endured as a young cancer patient and the pain of losing five year-old Timothy just a couple of years later.
As he had created a community of support to help him through his surgery, Snell invited key people in his life to be part of his presentation. His granddaughter Sierra Farquhar, who had been like an anchor through many difficult moments of his journey, began the evening by playing violin while people enjoyed pizza and conversation from 6:30 to 7:00 . At various times throughout his talk, he would cue a member of the audience to read from one of the many poems included in his book at the beginning of each chapter. Most were family and close friends who had practiced for the event, two were complete strangers inspired by the evening.
From Dante’s Inferno, Canto I, to the 14th Century Persian Poem Hafiz, the audience traveled with Snell through his own dark wood to the light of the present day and the gifts he would finally open and share with others going through crisis in their own life.
Snell’s book can be purchased at the Capitola Book Café ( www.capitolabookcafe.com ) and other area bookstores as well as amazon.com. Due to copyright agreements with the author, the poems mentioned above as well as others included in his book, are not posted on this website. Below is a partial list of the works found in Beowulf’sApprentice.
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Evening Train, by Denise Levertov.
Lord, I am but a flit of a butterfly wing… by Rachel Medlock.
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver.
The Open Door by Helen Keller
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
The Man Walking from Selected Poems Of Ranier- Maria Rilke
A Cushion For Your Head, from The Gift, Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master
Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
The Gift, Poems by Hafiz
"Love after Love" from Sea Grapes by Derek Walcott
