Irish Blessings and Proverbs: A Colection of Irish Writings
I have always had an affinity for the Irish people and have loved their culture and traditions. I am from a Scotch-Irish background with quite a bit of German thrown in (and, being American, a lot of other stuff!) I was also born on the day before St. Patrick's Day!
Blessings
An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
May those who love us love us.
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.
May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.
May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven
half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.
Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.
Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.
Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.
Here's a toast to your enemies'
enemies!
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 there be a generation of
children
On the children of your children.
May you live to be a hundred
years,
With one extra year to repent!
May the Lord keep you in His hand
And never close His fist too tight.
May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.
May the saddest day of your future
be no worse
Than the happiest day of your past.
May there always be work for your
hands to do,
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
May your troubles be less
And your blessings be more.
And nothing but happiness
Come through your door.
Prayers
Grant me a sense of humor,
Lord,
The saving grace to see a joke,
To win some happiness from life,
And pass it on to other folk.
Proverbs
Shining Through The Tears
It's easy to be pleasant when life
flows by like a song.
But the man worth while is the one who can smile
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble and it always comes with years.
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through the tears.
Irish Puns
The Deaf Mule
An Irishman named O'Leary, who loved
to sing as he worked, bought a mule to farm his garden. The mule worked well but was
almost totally deaf. So, when his owner yelled, "Whoa!", the animal often
continued plowing. Asked how the mule was working out, O'Leary shook his head. "There
was a time," he said, "when all the neighbors could here was me singing my
lilting melodies." "Lately, I'm afraid, they've heard nothing but .... my riled
Irish whoa's!"
Their constant conflicts must some day lead the Irish to see .... the Eire of their ways.
