Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems

Love and Pie

     J. A. Carill

     From Woz'ls Humorous Sketches and Rhymes in the East
     Yorkshire Dialect (n. d.).

     Whin I gor hoired et Beacon Farm a year last Martinmas,
     I fund we'd gor a vory bonny soort o' kitchen lass;
     And so I tell'd her plooin' made me hungry—thot was why
     I awlus was a laatle sthrong on pudden and on pie.
     And efther thot I thowt the pie was, mebbe, middlin' large,
     And so I ate it for her sake—theer wasn't onny charge;
     Until it seems t' missus asked her rayther sharply why
     She awlus used t' biggest dish for pudden and for pie.

     I wasn't mich of use, ye knaw, et this here fancy talkin',
     She had no chance o' goin' oot for armin' it and walkin'.
     But thin I knawed I gor her love whin I could see t' pies;
     I knawed her thowts o' me were big by bigness o' their size.
     The pies and gell I thowt thot geed,(1) they hardlins could be beaten,
     She knawed I'd awlus thowts on her by way t' pies were eaten;
     Until it seems t' missus asked her rayther sharply why
     She awlus used t' biggest dish for pudden and for pie.

     Noo just thoo wait a bit and see; I'm only thod-lad(2) noo,
     I moight be wagoner or hoind within a year or two;
     And thin thoo'll see, or I'm a cauf, I'll mak 'em ring choch bell,
     And carry off et Martinmas yon prize-pie-makkin' gell.
     And whin thoo's buyin' coats and beats(3) wi' wages thot ye take,
     It's I'll be buyin' boxes for t' laatle bits o' cake;
     And whin I've gar a missus ther'll be no more askin' why
     She awlus gers oor biggest dish for pudden and for pie.

     1. Good.  2. Third lad on the farm.  3. Boots.