Cheer Up A Bit Lunger
by Samuel Laycock
From ‘The Collected Writings of Samuel Laycock’, second edition, issued 1908.
Published in Oldham by W. E. Clegg, in London by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., and in Manchester by John Heywood Ltd. and Abel Heywood & Son.
This is another of Laycock's notable poems from the hard times of the 'Lancashire Cotton Famine' - that time during the American Civil War (1861-1865) in which the Lancashire cotton industry became starved of raw cotton and great hardship ensued. There is nothing whatsoever of the revolutionary in Laycock, instead he appealed to the stoicism and self-reliance of the Lancashire cotton workers, who, in the absence of a system of social security and in spite of much charitable giving, in many cases suffered grievously from both terrible cold and acute hunger. For a happier poem, see 'Cheer up, Toilin' Brothers!'
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Cheer Up A Bit Lunger
Cheer up a bit lunger, mi brothers i’ want,
Ther’s breeter days for us i’ store;
Ther’ll be plenty o’ “tommy” an’ wark for us o,
When this dark-lookin’ cleawd’s blown o’er.
Yo’n struggled reet nobly an’ battled reet hard,
While things han bin lookin’ so feaw;
Yo’n borne wi’ yo’re troubles an’ trials so lung,
’At it’s no use o’ givin’ up neaw.
Feight on, as yo’ han done, an’ victory’s sure,
For th’ battle seems very near won;
Be firm i’ yo’re sufferin’ an’ dunno’ give way,
For they’re nowt nobbut ceawards ’at run.
Yo’ know heaw they’n praised us for stondin’ so firm,
An’ shall we neaw stagger an’ fo?
Not we! If we nobbut brace up an’ be hard,
We con stond a bit lunger aw know.
It’s hard to keep clemmin’ an’ starvin’, it’s true;
An’ it’s hard to see th’ little things fret,
Becose ther’s no buttercakes for ’em to ate,
But we’n allus kept pooin’ through yet.
As bad as times are, an’ as feaw as things look,
One’s certain they met ha’ bin worse;
For we’n getten a trifle o’ summat so fur,
Tho’ it’s been poorish poikin’, of course.
Aw’ve begged on yo’ t’ keep up yo’re courage afore,
An’ neaw let me ax you’ once moor;
Let’s noan get disheartened, ther’s hope for us yet,
We needn’t despair tho’ we’re poor.
We connot expect it’ll always be foine;
It’s dark for awhile, an’ then clear;
We’n mirth mixed wi’ sadness, an’ pleasure wi’ pain,
An’ shall have so lung as we’re here.
This world’s full o’ changes for better or worse,
An’ this is one change amung th’ ruck;
We’n a time o’ prosperity, time o’ success,
An’ then we’n a reawnd o’ bad luck.
We’re baskin’ i’ sunshine at one time o’ th’ day,
At other times ceaw’rin’ i’th’ dark;
To-day finds us hearty, an’ busy as owt,
To-morn, may be, ill an’ beawt wark.
God bless yo’ mi brothers, we’re nobbut on th’ tramp,
We never stay lung at one spot;
An’ while we keep knockin’ abeawt i’ this world,
Disappointments will fall to eawr lot;
So th’ best thing we con do, if we mean to get through,
Is to wrastle wi’ cares as they come;
If we’re tired an’ weary, - well, - lets never heed,
We con rest us weel when we get whoam.
Cheer up, then, aw say, an’ keep hopin’ for th’ best,
For things are goin’ t’ awter, an’ soon:
O these wailin’s an’ discords are beawnd to dee eawt,
An’ gi’e way for a merrier tune.
’Bide on a bit lunger, tak’ heart once ogen,
An’ do give o’er lookin’ so feaw;
As we’n battled an’ struggled, an’ suffered so lung,
It’s no use o’ givin’ up neaw.
Return to index of Lancashire dialect poems