Sunday, September 19, 2004
In honor of today being International Talk Like A Pirate Day, here is the treatise from Baldwin, Archbishop o' Canterbury (1185-1190, translated into pirate (courtesy of the fine lads and lasses at some website I can't remember). I think you'll find it has all the poetry and beauty of the original (which is on Friday, Sept. 10 if you want to scroll down):

"Davy Jones's Locker be strong, for it can rob us o' the gift o' life. (Yarrr, more grog, wench!) Love too be strong, for it can restore us t' a better life.

"Davy Jones's Locker be strong, for it can strip us o' this robe o' flesh. (Aaaarrrhhh!!!) Love too be strong, for it can take Davy Jones's Locker's spoils away 'n give 'em aft t' us.

"Davy Jones's Locker be strong, for nay one can withstand it. (Aaarrrrhhh!) Love too be strong, for it can conquer Davy Jones's Locker itself, soothe its stin', calm its violence, ,'n brin' its victory t' naught. (Bloody privateers!) The time will come when Davy Jones's Locker be reviled 'n taunted: 'O Davy Jones's Locker, where be yer stin'? (Yo-ho-ho!) O Davy Jones's Locker, where be yer victory?'

"Love be as strong as Davy Jones's Locker because Christ's love be the very Davy Jones's Locker o' Davy Jones's Locker. (Yarrr, more grog, wench!) Hence it be said: 'I will be yer Davy Jones's Locker, O Davy Jones's Locker! (Yaaarrrr!) I will be yer stin', O hell!' Our love for Christ be also as strong as Davy Jones's Locker, because it be itself a kind o' death: destroyin' the old life, rootin' out vice, 'n layin' aside dead works.

"Our love for Christ be a return, though very unequal, for 'is love o' us, 'n it be a likeness modelled on 'is. (Arrgh!) For 'he first loved us' 'n, through the example o' love he gave us, he became a seal upon us by which we be made like him. (AAARRGGHHH!) We lay aside the likeness o' the earthly person 'n put on the likeness o' the heavenly person; we love him as he has loved us. (Bloody privateers!) For in this matter 'he has port us an example so that we might follow in 'is steps.'

"That be why he says: 'Set me as a seal upon yer heart.' It be as if he were sayin': 'Love me as I love ye. (Bloody landlubber!) Keep me in yer mind 'n memory, in yer desires 'n yearnin's, in yer groans 'n sobs. (Yo-ho-ho!) Remember the kind o' bein' I made ye; how far I set ye above other creatures; the dignity I conferred upon ye; the glory 'n honor with which I crowned ye; how I made ye only a little less than the angels 'n set all thin's under yer feet. (AAARRGGHHH!) Remember not only how much I have done for ye but all the hardship 'n shame I have suffered for ye. (AAARRRRHHH!!!) Yet look 'n see: Do ye not wrong me? (AAARRHH!!!) Do ye not fail t' love me? (Bloody landlubber!) Who loves ye as I do? (AAARRHH!!!) Who created 'n redeemed ye but I?'

"Lord, take away me heart o' stone, a heart so bitter 'n uncircumcised, 'n give me a new heart, a heart o' flesh, a pure heart. (Dead men tell no tales.) Ye cleanse the heart 'n love the clean heart. (Aaarrrrhhh!) Take possession o' me heart 'n dwell in it, contain it 'n fill it, ye who be higher than the heights o' me spirit 'n closer t' me than me innermost self! (AAARRGGHHH!) Ye be the pattern o' all beauty 'n teh seal o' all holiness. (Aaarrhhh, me parrot!) Set the seal o' yer likeness upon me heart! (Aaarrrrhhh!) In yer quarter set yer seal upon me heart, O God o' me heart, O God who be me portion for ever!"

-From a treatise by Baldwin, Archbishop o' Canterbury (1185-1190) |
Mike at 9/19/2004 07:23:00 AM