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St Patrick's Day

Posted by ESC on March 17, 2005

In Reply to: St Patrick's Day posted by Lewis on March 17, 2005

: : : May you have food and raiment,
: : : A soft pillow for your head,
: : : May you be forty years in heaven
: : : Before the devil knows you're dead!

: : : ***

: : : May you have warm words
: : : on a cold evening.
: : : A full moon on a dark night,
: : : And the road downhill all the way
: : : to your door.

: : : ***

: : : May you live to be
: : : a hundred years old
: : : with one extra year to repent.

: : : (From "The Big Little Book of Irish Wit & Wisdom," Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, New York, 1993.)

: : : May you live to comb gray hair.

: : Nice ones, ESC. I'm so glad you didn't include 'May the road rise to meet you.' Being met by a rising road is very painful and causes lots of potholes. The expression is a very litteral translation of 'Go n'eirigh an bothar leat' which, in Irish, has lots of 'well-wish' meanings. Some examples: 'May your journey be safe; May your venture succeed; May your wish come true.'

: John Martyn sang

: "May you never lay your head down without a hand to hold.
: May you never make your bed out in the cold.
: May you never lose your temper if you get hit in a barroom fight.
: May you never lose your woman overnight."

: I picked up a book of toasts which has a lot of traditional Irish blessings, but without it before me I'll make up my own :

: May your heart and hearth be forever warm,
: may strangers be friends as yet unmade
: may your bed be never lonesome and your plate ever full
: and may all the blessing of God be upon you
: now and forever.

: I suppose an 'Amen' should follow.

: Happy St Patrick's (and St James' Gate) Day.

: L

Today at work we had our own leprechaun. One of the computer techies had on a big green hat, cape, and vest. Full drag.

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