Easter Zunday by William Barnes
Last Easter Jim put on his blue
Frock cwoat, the vu’st time-vier new;
Wi’ yollow buttons all o’ brass,
That glitter’d in the zun lik’ glass;
An’ pok’d ‘ithin the button-hole
A tutty he’d a-begg’d or stole.
A span-new wes-co’t, too, he wore,
Wi’ yellow stripes all down avore;
An’ tied his breeches’ lags below
The knee, wi’ ribbon in a bow;
An’ drow’d his kitty-boots azide,
An’ put his laggens on, an’ tied
His shoes wi’ strings two vingers wide,
Because ‘twer Easter Zunday.
An’ after mornen church wer out
He come back hwome, an’ stroll’d about
All down the vields, an’ drough the leane,
Wi’ sister Kit an’ cousin Jeane,
A-turnen proudly to their view
His yollow breast an’ back o’ blue.
The lambs did play, the grounds wer green,
The trees did bud, the zun did sheen;
The lark did zing below the sky,
An’ roads wer all a-blown so dry,
As if the zummer wer begun;
An’ he had sich a bit o’ fun!
He meade the maidens squeal an’ run,
Because ‘twer Easter Zunday.
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Which it’s a fine poem.
William Barnes’ dialect recalls this shipboard exchange between Captain Jack Aubrey and Surgeon Stephen Maturin in the Officer’s Mess:
Two weevils crept from the crumbs. “You see those weevils, Stephen?” said Jack solemnly.
“I do.”
“Which would you choose?”
“There is not a scrap of difference. Arcades ambo. They are the same species of curculio, and there is nothing to choose between them.”
“But suppose you had to choose?”
“Then I should choose the right-hand weevil; it has a perceptible advantage in both length and breadth.”
“There I have you,” cried Jack. “You are bit — you are completely dished. Don’t you know that in the Navy you must always choose the lesser of two weevils? Oh ha, ha, ha, ha!”
Aaargh.
Or, as we say in my bit of N.E. Ireland: “Ahh”.
Which, being interpreted, means: “Aye”.
Which it’s “Yes”. For them as speaks fancy.
My grandfather came from that part of the world
An’ zoo o’ Monday we got drough
Our work betimes, an ax’d a vew
Young vo’k vrom Stowe an’ Coom, an’ zome
Vrom uncle’s down at Grange to come,
An’ they so spry, wi’ merry smiles,
Did beät the path an’ leäp the stiles,
Wi’ two or dree young chaps bezide,
To meet an’ keep up Easter tide:
Vor we’d a-zaid avore, we’d git
Zome friends to come, an’ have a bit
O’ fun wi’ me, an’ Jeäne, an’ Kit,
Because ‘twer Easter Monday.
An’ there we plaÿ’d away at quaïts,
An’ weigh’d ourzelves wi’ sceäles an’ waïghts;
An’ jump’d to zee who jump’d the spryest,
An’ sprung the vurdest an’ the highest;
An’ rung the bells vor vull an hour,
An’ plaÿ’d at vives ageän the tower.
An’ then we went an’ had a taït,
An’ cousin Sammy wi’ his waïght
Broke off the bar, he wer so fat!
An’ toppled off, an’ vell down flat
Upon his head, an’ squot his hat,
Because ‘twer Easter Monday.