A poem for Columbus Day

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Back in fourteen ninety-two.
He sailed across and spotted land,
A beach, and people on the sand.

He called them Indians because
He had no idea where he was.
India was just a guess.
When in doubt, declare success.

                       –by Ramon Montaigne

There goes the neighborhood.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 9th, 2017 at 9:44 am and is filed under circus of life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

9 Responses to A poem for Columbus Day

  1. robbiesinspiration says:
    October 9, 2017 at 12:02 pm

    I like this.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Carl D'Agostino says:
    October 9, 2017 at 1:03 pm

    Ah he did have an idea where he was thus Indians. He knew how far the east was from Italy by Marco Polo’s writings of 300 years earlier. The Greeks noticed the arc on the horizon from the mountains looking out to see. They knew the length of the arc and multiplied the arcs to complete a circle and guess the circumference 66% accurately. He knew that too and certainly knew of Iceland and Greenland in the west. The other third (North and South America) completes the circle . So if the earth was 1/3 smaller he would be in India

    Liked by 1 person

    • mindful webworker says:
      October 9, 2017 at 7:31 pm

      The whole reason Columbus kept getting refused a sponsor was because informed sailors and others could tell Chris didn’t really have the girth of the planet right. He had to find someone who didn’t know the science.

      His crew was near mutiny when they stumbled across the Western Hemisphere. Which was fortunate. If they hadn’t hit land, they would’ve all died from starvation. They certainly could never have made India.

      CC lived and died never really knowing he’d made the most fortuitous journey in history.

      Sorry about the cultural conflict thing, a historic tragedy. However, every AmerIndian with a house, flush toilet, tv, cell, and car can thank Columbus today.

      And if it hadn’t been for Columbus’s ignorance, we would not today have the amusement of differentiating “dot or feather?”

      Liked by 2 people

  3. Will S. says:
    October 9, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    Happy Columbus Day, BoB! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. patriciaruthsusan says:
    October 10, 2017 at 12:34 am

    I love the part, “When in doubt declare success”. 😀 — Suzanne

    Liked by 1 person

  5. rednig says:
    October 13, 2017 at 11:29 pm

    According to our beneficent democrat party (excuse me while I gag), it’s better to do the wrong thing, than nothing. Hence, they perpetrate lies about Columbus.

    I like Columbus. Most people who know the truth do. He knew something was here because when he apprenticed to an uncle, a ship’s pilot, they would go to Greenland to trade for unicorn (narwhal) horns. Down the coast of Africa, his uncle traded for ivory and other things. Both places had people with strong stories about a vast land in the west. India, old chap, was called Hindustan in his day. The word Indian comes from en Dios, un gente en Dios. Columbus wanted trade. The Taino (AKA Carib/Arawak/ect) wanted trade. Not colonization. The popes outlawed enslaving Native Americans. But, agnostics worship gold, not God.

    Liked by 1 person

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