Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

A Post-WW1 Foreglen Orphan's Lament


A poem composed mostly in North-East Doric by John Henderson
on the 13th of September, 2014

Glossary:
pit=put; siller=money; anse =or; jaur=jar; minnie=mother; neist=next;
grunny=granny; dunnie=small building on a hillside; happ'd=roofed;
thack=thatch; reyn=rain; hurled=wheeled; barralades=barrowloads;
nar=near; hovel=squalid building; maiks=halfpennies; airn=earn;
wyvin'=weaving; graavits=scarves; biel=shelter; weirdless=fated;
fivver=fever; dool=sad; lane=alone; toom=empty; scaur=bare land.

Pleese pit siller i' ma tinnie,
Anse a sweetie i' ma jaur;
Fan a loon I loast ma minnie,
Neist ma faither i' the war.
I wis brocht-up by ma grunny,
Poorest widda i' Foreglen
Fa's wee hame wis jist a dunnie
Happ'd wi' thack tae keep oot reyn.
She hurled barralades o' tatties,
An' lots ither veggies tee
Frae the gairden nar her hovel
Maiks tae airn fur her an' me.
In the winter oan her hanloom
Wyvin' graavits she did weel;
I dug peats an' hunted rubbits,
Lerned tae keuk an' waarm oor biel.
Bit ma grunny, ae day weirdless,
Catchit fivver nane cud cure;
Sinsyne aince mair I've been orphaned;
Twal-year-auld, dool, lane an' poor.
Pleese pit siller i' ma tinnie,
Anse a sweetie i' ma jaur;
Ma toom hame is aye a dunnie,
Bit ma gairden's noo a scaur.


Return to John's Poetry Page


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast