Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems

Rollickin' Jack

     John Hartley

        I know a workin' lad,
           His hands are hard an' rough,
        His cheeks are red an' braan,
           But I like him weel enough.
        His ee's as breet 's a bell,
           An' his curly hair is black,
     An' he stands six foot in his stockin' feet,
           An' his name is Rollickin' Jack.

        At morn, if we should meet,
           He awlus has a smile,
        An' his heart is gay an' leet,
           When trudgin' to his toil.
        He whistles, or he sings,
           Or he stops a joke to crack;
     An' monny a lass at he happens to pass
           Looks shyly at Rollickin' Jack.

        His mother's old an' gray;
           His father's deead an' gooan;
        He'll niver move away
           An' leave her all alooan.
        Choose who(1) should be his wife,
           Shoo'll mak a sad mistak,
     For he's ivery inch a mother's lad,
           Is this rough an' rollickin' Jack.

        An' still I think sometimes
           Th' old woman wants a nurse;
        An' as for weddin' Jack,
           Why, there's monny a lass done worse.
        Of coorse it's not for me
           To tell him who to tak,
     But there's one I could name, if I could but for shame,
           Just the lass to suit Rollickin' Jack.

     1. Whoever.