When I were but a striplin'
An' bare a scoor year owd,
I thowt I'd gotten brains enew
To fill all t' yeds i' t' fowd.
I used to roor wi' laffin'
At t' sharpness o' my wit,
An' a joke I made one Kersmiss
Threw my nuncle in a fit.
I used to think my mother
Were a hundred year behund;
An' my father—well, my father
Nobbut fourteen aence to t' pund.
An' I often turned it ovver,
But I ne'er could fairly see
Yaeiver sich owd cronies
Could hae bred a chap like me.
An' whene'er they went to t' market,
I put my fillin's in;
Whol my father used to stop me
Wi' "Prithee, hold thy din.
"Does ta think we're nobbut childer,
Wi' as little sense as thee?
When thy advice is wanted,
We'st axe thee, does ta see."
But they gate it, wilta, shalta,
An' I did my levil best
To change their flee-blown notions,
Whol their yeds were laid to t' west.
This happened thirty year sin;
Nae I've childer o' my own,
At's gotten t' cheek to tell me
At I'm a bit flee-blown.
Notes
An' bare a scoor year owd === Not yet twenty
one Kersmiss === one Christmas
Nobbut fourteen aence to t' pund. === Short of brains
Yaeiver sich owd cronies === How such old folks
I put my fillin's in; === I gave them my opinions
But they gate it, wilta, shalta === But they gave it whether or not I wanted it
At I'm a bit flee-blown === That I am stupid
This poem was taken from F W Moorman's collection of Yorkshire Poetry and was originally published in "Odds and Ends" which was self-published by the author E A Lodge.
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Comments
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Thanks for the post
Seems to be a dialect I had known one time.
If anyone's interested in seeing another poem as this be sure to visit AP's own Vera Rich and hunt down a poem called "Bessie". You'll not be disappointed you had.
Marvelous!
Three Egg Omelet
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Bad Apple
The sour tongue runs in the vine. This was the best I've read today. Only to the parent apparent a sour run in the family's budding vine. -
How the world turns - that our own children have the cheek to tell us that we are a bit stupid
this is so lively and funny and I'm so glad I understand the dialect (well most of it).
Lines 21 - 24 ring so true. We, as children were never allowed to give our opinion unless it was asked for - which was rare as I remember. Enjoyed this very much.
~Von~
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