Thursday, November 28, 2013

To Thanksgiving


This holiday is often overlooked
One feels, because it doesn’t generate
The flow of cash, the airlines overbooked,
Hysteria at fear of being late.
A humble, homey, family-style affair,
No supernatural glamour European
Kicks Concupiscence awake to dare
Sobriety to drink and make a scene.
Giving thanks for what one has is not 
In fashion in this Age of Gimmemore.
Virtue, quaintly comical, has got
Inhibited. It fears to be a bore.
Nothing satisfies, however wild, like
Giving thanks for home in manner childlike.

~ FreeThinke, The Sandpiper, Autumn, 1996

20 comments:

  1. 1. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

    2. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

    3. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

    4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

    5. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

    ~ Psalm 100 , KJV

    ReplyDelete
  2. And the same to you and yours, Thersites!

    In truth mine is more apt to be a vulgar exercise in self-indulgence, however.

    We move very rapidly from piety to profligacy, I fear.

    The sad truth will be posted forthwith.


    ReplyDelete
  3. Over the river and cross the bay
    To the The Holiday Inn I''ll go
    To eat too much at their buffet
    Then suffer gastric woe-ho.
    Thank God I own a lovely space
    Wherein I may pass out.
    I laid a store of Bromo in
    For Ill need it without a doubt!


    HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This just in from The Pstriot Post via AOW!

    Lots of interesting information about the origins of Thanksgiving in North America most of us probably do not know.


    “The earliest record of a thanksgiving in America is 1541 by Spanish explorer Coronado at Palo Duro Canyon in what is now Texas. French Protestant colonists at Charlesfort (now Parris Island, South Carolina) held a thanksgiving service in 1564. In 1607, the Jamestown settlers held thanksgiving at Cape Henry, Virginia, and there are many other records of such hallowed observances.


    “The first call for an annual Thanksgiving was at Berkeley Plantation, Virginia, in 1619, when Captain John Woodlief and 38 settlers aboard the ship Margaret, proclaimed, "Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacion in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."


    “But the contemporary celebration of Thanksgiving across our nation has its roots in the first "harvest feast" celebrated in 1621 by religious refugees, Pilgrims, who established the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, in the year 1620. ...”



    http://patriotpost.us/pages/284

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know things could always be worse, in America with our current leadership...I suppose I'm thankful they're not.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  7. FT,
    Guess what?

    THE BUBBLE IN MY EYE VANISHED AT 8:00 A.M. TODAY!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Something more to be thankful for. Glad to hear it, AoW!

    And your don't HAVE to overindulge today, FT. Unlike our know-it-all President's Health Care Plan, it's completely "optional".

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well, HALLELUJAH!, AOW!

    That really IS a reason to rejoice and be glad.

    Your good news has MADE MY DAY.

    God bless, you, and Mr. AOW!

    Onward and upward!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey, Thersites, I've just lost 35 lbs. It took me six months to do it, and I AIN'T gonna put it all back on today, I promise.

    I was just trying to inject a note of LEVITY into this pious prattling. Y'oughtta know my penchant for whimsy by now.

    I'm equal parts ascetic and Rabelaisian.

    Be of good cheer. It's that time of year.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I will be. It's just difficult for me to turn off the kynicism.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ... and congratulations. 35 lbs is quite a feat! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. FT,
    Another acrostic sonnet!

    How do you manage to write so many of these?

    ReplyDelete
  14. How do I do it?

    1% inspiration - 99% perspiration. I guess. ;-)

    I have written a lot of these things. I lost count at 200 years ago, It's a little more original than doing crossword puzzles to help pass the time agreeably.

    Working on a VILLANELLE right now. THAT'S hard -- an extremely confining form. Very hard not to make the language sound stilted. I do love that kind of challenge.

    Good clean fun at worst.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for all the good wishes. I hope yesterday turned out as well for everyone as it did for me.

    I did eat too much, of course, but seem to be suffering no ill effects today, thank Heaven.

    The best thing about it, of course, was getting out and being among friendly people in a festive mood.

    Not one said a single WORD about POLITICS.

    Wasn't that loverly?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed it is lovely.

      I, knowing you would over eat FT intentionally scaled back. Figured it would make us both feel good. :-)

      Delete
  16. FT,
    Not one said a single WORD about POLITICS.

    Now, THAT is a blessing in and of itself!

    I fixed a wonderful meal yesterday -- so avers Mr. AOW -- and we both succumbed to a turkey coma around 8:30 P.M.

    Tonight we will have the same meal again. Leftovers!

    ReplyDelete

IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING, YOU DON'T BELONG HERE, SO KINDLY GET OUT AND STAY OUT.

We welcome Conversation
But without Vituperation.
If your aim is Vilification ––
Other forms of Denigration ––
Unfounded Accusation --
Determined Obfuscation ––
Alienation with Self-Justification ––
We WILL use COMMENT ERADICATION.


IN ADDITION

Gratuitous Displays of Extraneous Knowledge Offered Not To Shed Light Or Enhance the Discussion, But For The Primary Purpose Of Giving An Impression Of Superiority are obnoxiously SELF-AGGRANDIZING, and therefore, Subject to Removal at the Discretion of the Censor-in-Residence.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.