Speaking The Words To Simple Gifts As Ship Passes Behind Me
Above is a video of me speaking the words of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts while standing on the eastern end of Galveston Island.
The video runs just over 90 seconds.
Behind me as I speak is a ship in Galveston Bay that is sailing out towards the Gulf of Mexico.
Simple Gifts is one of my favorite songs in the world.
If you click this link, you’ll see the lyrics and the song will play.
The song was written by Joseph Brackett. Here are some very basic facts about Joseph Brackett.
Here is some information about Shaker music.
Here is some history of the Shakers.
From that history—
One of the numerous religious sects who emigrated to American shores in search of religious freedom, the Shakers followed Mother Ann Lee to the United States in 1774. Here they established several colonies– the first in 1776 at Nikayuna near Albany, NY–whose governing principles included celibacy and agrarian communal living.
Here are some things you could see if you visited Galveston, Texas.
Here are some facts about Galveston Bay.
Here is the link to the Galveston Bay Foundation.
Here is a link where you can track the location of ships around the world.
Here is some history of ships and boats.
The part of Simple Gifts I like best is where it says that to bow and to bend we should not be ashamed. I would like to live my life by that principle, but so far I have lacked the discipline to do so.
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Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
A blog grows one reader at a time. If you like what you read here, please consider forwarding the link.
Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.
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Texas Liberal 
Neil, thanks for sharing this. It’s a lovely hymn and it brought back happy memories of visiting the Shaker village in Harrodsburg, KY. I hope you and Laura are well and I hope you have a great sunscreen. That Texas sun looks extra hot.
Michele–Thanks for the kind comment. I was all sun-screened up.
Neil, there are some things in life that will always move me in the deepest way. This hymn is one of them. It reminds me so much of my mother and of my warm and loving childhood with her. I remember feeling so happy when we would get to sing this in church. Without thinking about it too much I don’t know why it moves me so. But I’m glad that you appreciate this simple and profound verse enough to share it on your blog.
peace brother.
Dear Neil:
Thank you for the singing of the Shaker Hymn. We await a national policy to have us turn right. Going forward will not be in the middle. The true path is to follow the facts.
Tyrone
Shannon, Tyrone–Thanks for these kind comments.
Nice reading. Enjoyable to watch the ship in the background as well. And, fortunately, none of the gulls let go on your pate.
Just found your blog and it is wonderful. Your attitude toward people, your definition of liberalism and the recitation of this hymn made much lighter this dreary day.
That is very kind of you to say. Please visit the blog again and have a great 2013.