Gettin’ Wed
by C. A. Clarke (Teddy Ashton)
From ‘Lancashire Miscellany’, edited by James Benett, published by Hirst, Kidd & Rennie Ltd., Oldham, 1960.
This is a jolly poem, not at all serious, but good-natured throughout.
There is an interesting reference to the practice of buying foodstuffs on credit from the 'grocer' (if you're old enough to know what one of those is!).
Gettin’ Wed
by C. A. Clarke (Teddy Ashton)
It corn’t be helped, it corn’t be stopped,
When aw is done an’ said;
Whatever comes, whatever goes,
Young folks keeps gettin’ wed.
Owd folks may kindly caution ‘em,
An’ marriage woes proclaim;
But t’ young uns taks no heed of ‘em,
They just get wed aw t’ same.
Young chaps feel lonely by theirsels,
So does young women, too;
Therefore they go an’ tee theirsels
In knots they corn’t undo.
Life is a give-an’tak’ affair –
A tug ‘twixt peace and strife;
A mon mun give hissel away
Whene’er he taks a wife.
Th’ bride’s gan away by somebody else –
Well, so I have been towd;
But t’ chap mun give hissel, unless
He happens to be sowd.
But still I wish aw happiness
On’ mony a sunny way,
To th’ gradely lad an’ bonny lass
That’s reached their weddin’-day.
May they their temper never lose,
Like plenty does that weds;
An’ though they’n gone an’ lost their hearts
May they ne’er lose their yeads.
Let each ha’ t’ other’s confidence,
An’ may they never clem;
May they allus trust each other – e’en
If t’ grocer weren’t trust them.
May aw their life be good an’ sweet,
One endless towfymoon;
No fawin’-eaut – especially if
They’re up in a balloon.
Here’s joy to ‘em, here’s luck to ‘em,
At board an’ at bed;
May they never know that they are born,
Still less that they are wed!
May they keep till th’ end that Eden time
That’s coom to ‘em today,
An’ may aw their troubles be "little uns,"
As th’ jolly owd jokes say.
And so I end this jolly rhyme,
In a wish we aw may share, -
Th’ best of health, an’ enoof o’ wealth,
To th’ newly-married pair.