Owd Robbin’s Recollections o’ Kesmas by Margaret Lahee
Margaret Rebecca Lahee (1831 to 1895) was born in Carlow, Ireland but spent much of her life in Lancashire, specifically in Rochdale where she is commemorated on The Rochdale Dialect Writers’ Memorial.
From ‘A Lancashire Garland’, Selected and Edited by G. Halstead Whittaker, Second Impression, 1936, printed at Elipse Works, Staylybridge by Geo. Whittaker & Sons. Go to Glossary
Owd Robbin’s Recollections o’ Kesmas
Aw tell yo’ what it is, good folk,
Owd Kesmas ma’es me glad.
In face o’ toime aw crack a joke,
As when aw wur a lad.
Aw’m grooin’ owder, to be sure,
An’ Mally’s yed is gray,
But age o’ertak’s both rich an’ poor,
An’ we han had eaur day.
Aw recollect one Kesmus toime,
O’er thirty year ago,
Aw first ax’d Mally to be moine;
Th’ young peausement onswer’d “No.”
Hoo stood besoide a holly bush;
Eh, mon, what een so breet!
Her cheeks would put the rose to blush,
If ony wur I’ seet.
But theer my lady stood, shuzheaw,
As lordly as you please;
Hoo said, “Aw wouldna ha’ thee neaw,
If thae went on thy knees.
Besoide, aw’ve better i’ my choance;
Go thee wed Martha Street.
Aw seed thee clippin’ her i’th doance
At Caleb’s yester neet.”
“Eh, ne’er thee name her, wench,” aw sed,
“Hoo’s nowt at o to me;
Shuz who I clip, it’s thee aw’st wed,
I’ we con both agree.
So will thae ha’ me, nay or yea?
I set some store o’ thee.
Oh, Mally, Mally, don’t say nay,
That word would madden me.”
An’ so, embowden’d bi her look,
Afore hoo could say “Yes,”
Her tremblin’ hond i’ moine I took,
An’ stole a Kesmas kiss.
An’ ever sin aw bless that day,
’Tis th’ happiest one of o;
“Eh, Mally, wench, shat does ta say?
It wur for me, aw know.”
Then let us keep it up, owd lass;
Bring eaut thy Kesmas cheer,
An’ may eaur lives as pleasant pass
Through mony a comin’ year.
So neaw, good folk, yon yerd my tale,
We’ll have a droit o’ beer,
There’s brade an’ cheese, and whoam-brew’d ale,
Ay, plenty on it here.
|