Letter From America: A Yorkshire Proverb
Here's a dialect poem rit bi sumdi called ‘Anonymous’ but fixed up a bit bi Ronnie Bray.
It's hard when fowks can't finnd their wark
Wheer they've bin bred an' born;
When I were young Ah ollus thowt
Ah'd bide 'mong t' roots an' corn.
But Ah've bin forced to work i' towns,
So here's my litany:
Frae ‘Ull, an' ‘Alifax, an' ‘Ell,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
When Ah were courtin' Mary Ann,
T' owd squire, he sez one day:
"Ah've gate no place for wedded fowks;
Choose, wilt ta wed or stay?"
Ah couldn't gie up t' lass I luvved,
So to t' town we had to flee:
Frae ‘Ull, an' ‘Alifax, an' ‘Ell,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
Ah've wrowt i' Leeds an' ‘Uthersfel',
An' addled ‘onest brass;
I' Bradforth, Keighley, Rotherham,
Ah've kept my bairns an' lass.
Ah've travelled all three Ridin's round,
An’ once Ah went to sea:
Frae forges, mills, an' coilin' boats,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
Ah've walked at neet through Sheffield lanes
'T were same as bein' i' ‘Ell:
T’funnaces thrust out tongues o' fire,
An' rooared lahk t' wind on t' fell.
Ah've sammed up coals i' Barnsley pits,
Wi' muck up to me knee:
Frae Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
Ah've seen grey fog creep ower Leeds Brig
As thick as wark’ouse soup;
Ah've lived wheer fowks were stowed away
Like rabbits in a coop.
Ah've watched snow float down Bradforth Beck
As black as ebiny:
Frae ‘Unslet, ‘Olbeck, Wibsey Slack,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
But now, when all us childer's fledged
To t' coontry we've coom back.
There's fotty mile o' heathery moor
Twix' us an' t' coal-pit slack.
And when Ah sit gain t' feyer at t’ neet,
Ah laugh an' shout wi' glee:
Frae Bradforth, Leeds, an ‘Uthersfel',
Frae ‘Ull, an' ‘Alifax, an' ‘Ell,
T' gooid Lord's delivered me!
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Ronnie's latest Yorkshire Tales CD - Volume Five OUT NOW!
http://yorkshiretales.com/main/page_cd_yt_0105.html
Listen to some of Ronnie Famous Yorkshire Tales Online at:
http://www.wix.com/jorvik/yorkshiretales
Read Some of Ronnie's Religious and Spiritual writings at:
http://www.scribd.com/Mormon-Quill
Historical Novel In Preparation:
Luddite Spring: A Yorkshire Carol of Huddersfield's Luddite Uprising of 1812
