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Stan sent me in this poem in the Doric
language and also a recording of it.
Click here to play the audio file
This poem is based on a true story, when I
visited my Uncle Jack and Auntie Bet’s farm at Bybush, St Katherines,
Aberdeenshire, when I was about 11 or 12 years old.
Almost a Gonner, was the Champion Sconner!
Doon on ‘e
ferm,
Sic a dangerous place,
I stottit o’er a steen,
An’ landed flat on mi face.
A black e’e ‘at wid fear ye,
An’ a scrapit snoot,
A’ cos I caught a steen,
Wi mi tackety boot.
An’ ‘at wis jist ‘e start,
Fer next, I wint intae ‘e byre,
An’ a great muckle stirk wi horns,
Didnae like mi attire.
‘e beast fa’n he saw mi,
Charged, cos I wis wearin’ reid,
I ran an’ clambered o’er some bales,
Else, I wid hae bin deid!
I lookit doon,
On ‘e great snortin’ beast,
By a whisker, I’d escaped wi mi life,
Evaded bein’ deceased.
I thought to myself, safer oot o’ here.
So, I wandered tae ‘e ferm hoose,
Draan by a winderfu’ smell,
Bannocks cookin’ on ‘e griddle,
An’ sum cheesy scones as we’el.
On wint ‘e butter,
Ye cud smell it meltin’‐in,
On wint some homemade strawberry jam,
An’ on mi face, wis a great big grin.
In mi moo ‘e bannock wint,
Oh it wis devine,
I said tae mi auntie “ken ‘es,
I’ve niver tasted a bannock sae fine”.
“’Ere ye go, hae sum mare,
I’ve made plinty”,
So, I hid anither an’ anither,
An’ afore I kent it, I’d scoffed aboot twinty!
Auntie said. “Hae sum milk,
Tae wash it doon,
Fresh fae ‘e Jersey coo, ‘es mornin’,
Perfect fer a growin’ loon”.
Wash it doon it certainly did,
I’ve niver tasted milk sae sweet,
“I’ve got some space noo” I said,
“A couple o’ ‘em scones wid ging doon a treat!”
Stanley Bruce,
5th October 2020.
Click here to
read the poem in pdf format |
