Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Sunday, January 15. 2012An annual re-post: Sir Francis Drake's Prayer (1577). "Disturb, us, Lord..."
Disturb us, Lord, when Disturb us, Lord, when Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, We ask you to push back This we ask in the name of our Captain, Francis Drake,an adventurer and essentially a legal pirate (What else is a second son supposed to do to make a living?), wrote this prayer as he departed Portsmouth on the Golden Hind to raid Spanish gold on the west coast of South America. He ventured at least as far north as the non-Spanish parts of California, claiming it as "New Albion" - New England- and returned to his Queen (the long way - via circumnavigation) with loot worth over a half million pounds sterling, and received his Knighthood for it. Comments
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A favorite poem. Have used it in sermons. But also good for students to slow their capture by corporate press gangs. So they realize that God, not only the Army, is the one whose service is not just a job but an adventure.
Excellent taste there, Antigone.
But it's a Prayer, not a Poem. Well, I guess that is nit-picking. Now gotta go butcher a white-tail deer. It's been hanging since Saturday, and should be ready... Well, better nit-picky than lousy. Lucky you to have a deer--they keep leaping out into the road as I drive home Sunday evening from church. A good year for them--big and healthy looking.
Thinking that there are plenty of legal pirates on land, but few so dashing as Drake. I mean, investment bankers fancy themselves pirates but can't do anything useful like navigate or shoot or face someone literally out for their blood. And they lack the physical stamina or chivalry to set anyone's heart racing. Wasn't it Francis Drake who swept off his cloak and put it over a mud puddle for that famously repressed Elizabeth?! Bet he warmed her heart just a tad... It's a wonderful prayer - first time I have seen it. Thanks for sharing it.
Sorry Antigone, it was Drake's nephew Sir Walter Raleigh that is supposed to have made the cape over mud puddle gesture. However, some now feel that is a Victorian era invention.
The prayer is a nice addition to an otherwise too hot Sunday. Annie This ibanker can navigate with map, compass and sextant. he's a reasonably fair shot, accounting for most of his big game (20 plus head) with one or at most, two shots, including a Cape Buffalo at 40 yards with a single shot. have had to protect my own (and families) neck from the nasties once. A bit weak on the physical stamina. the master of the universe thing does not always give me enough time to get in the gym. ask the girlfrend about chivalry.
I'm savoring the revealing contrast between Drake's seafaring "reach for the stars" vision and Michelle Obama's landlocked "audacity of whining" (Powerline's expression):
“You start working hard and sacrificing, and you think you’re getting closer to the bar, you’re working and you’re struggling, you get right to that bar, you’re reaching out for the bar, and then what happens? A Cape Buffalo at forty yards
The Broadside of a Barn at fifty Used a scope no doubt. I was directed to this site while searching for a quite other prayer by Drake (1587, as follows:
O Lord God, when thou givest thy servants to endeavour any great matter, grant us also to know that it is not the beginning but the continuing of the same until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory; through Him that for the finishing of thy work laid down His life, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen. This sounds rather more like the traditional Drake than the passage I found on your site with its 'dreamed too little' etc. At very least, someone's obviously updated the Elizabethan English (into 'you' etc.) which may make the meanings clearer, but somehow dilutes the original. Anyway, I hope this 'other' Drake prayer is of interest & inspiration to some of you! Ian Miles More about Maggie's Farm: I was intrigued when i stumbled upon this blog. Plse tell me more - thembers and where are u? Lfestyle, etc etc. Thank you, Johan Cape Town RSA
Sorryto appear pedantic,but i think you will find Drake initially set sail from Plymouth not Portsmouth on his circumnavigation voyage.
speaking of prayer ...
1 Sam. 2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see. fortunately for the Giants, today's reading was not true. Help me to understand why we are using a poem or prayer in our churches written by a man who was a pirate, thief, murderer, and was well known for his hatred of the Spanish until his death. Not to mention the fact that he actively participated in the slave trade. It is a beautiful prayer, but what kind of spirit was behind it. I am really not trying to sound judgmental, but everything he stood for clearly goes against the Word of God.
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For the beauty of the earth, For the Glory of the skies ... Grapefruit and lilacs for breakfast down Goomp's early morning.I'm savoring the revealing contrast between Drake's seafaring 'reach for the stars' vision and Michelle Obama's landlocked 'audacity of
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