Poem Lookin' Back

Lookin’ Back by Joan Pomfret
(The Isle of Man)

From My North Countrie – An anthology of poetry and prose of the northern counties, collected and arranged by Wilfred Pickles. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955.

Joan Pomfret is a more modern Lancashire Dialect poet. This poem is about a holiday ('Wakes') to the Isle of Man, and about a holiday fling that resulted. It is not entirely clear to me if the lass in the poem married her enamorado, or is simply dreaming of what might have been!

Lookin' Back

When t’ lamp’s aleet at t’ top o’ t’ street
An’ t’ fooaks are comin’ whoam at neet,
An’ t’ wark’s o’ done an’ t’ childer still
An’ t’ moon’s aflooat at back o’ t’ hill –
Ah like to ceawr bi t’ fire misen,
Id o’ comes back soa plainly then
(Though thirty-odd years lie between)
Thad Wakes when Ah wor seventeen!

We’d saved a bit o’ brass tha knows,
Young Mary-Jane an’ me an’ Rose –
An ’oaf we seet, as preawd as Punch
To be on’ t’ booat an’ hevin’ lunch!
Runs i’ mi yead thad summer day,
Heaw green an’ gowd th’ owd Island lay
Wi summat o’er id like a sheen –
Thad Wakes when Ah wor seventeen!

Well, t’ chaps come mashin’ t’ other two,
But me – Ah’d fun eawt summat new,
An Island lad fro’ t’ fishin’ fleet –
Heaw daft id wor! Heaw sad! Heaw sweet!
Id’s o’ mixed up, his lazy smiles
An’ t’ way he reyched me ower t’ stiles,
Wi fuschsia fleawrs he creawned me Queen,
Thad Wakes when Ah wor seventeen!

An’ neaw Ah shift as weel Ah con
Wi’ t’ childer an’ a crabby mon!
But sometimes, when Ah’m stitchin’ at
Eawr Billy’s pants, Eawr Sally’s brat,
Ah stop – an’ think o’ t’ way we went
An’ wod thad breawn lad’s kisses meant.
Eh, an’ them loines! – their gowd an’ green!
Thad Wakes when Ah wor seventeen.

A lot o’ watter’s gone id way
Sin Ah wor young an’ pert an’ gay,
Sin t’ sky wor dazzlin’ blue aboon
An’ Ah went walkin’ under t’ moon.
We goa for t’ Wakes to Blackpoo’ neaw –
But thad corn’d stop me thinkin’ heaw
An Island hed a silver sheen
Thad Wakes when Ah wor seventeen!

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