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Best Famous Ouse Poems

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Written by Robert William Service | Create an image from this poem

Bessies Boil

 Says I to my Missis: "Ba goom, lass! you've something I see, on your mind."
Says she: "You are right, Sam, I've something. It 'appens it's on me be'ind.
A Boil as 'ud make Job jealous. It 'urts me no end when I sit."
Says I: "Go to 'ospittel, Missis. They might 'ave to coot it a bit."
Says she: "I just 'ate to be showin' the part of me person it's at."
Says I: "Don't be fussy; them doctors see sights more 'orrid than that."

So Misses goes off togged up tasty, and there at the 'ospittel door
They tells 'er to see the 'ouse Doctor, 'oose office is Room Thirty-four.
So she 'unts up and down till she finds it, and knocks and a voice says: "Come in,"
And there is a 'andsome young feller, in white from 'is 'eels to 'is chin.
"I've got a big boil," says my Missis. "It 'urts me for fair when I sit,
And Sam (that's me 'usband) 'as asked me to ask you to coot it a bit."
Then blushin' she plucks up her courage, and bravely she shows 'im the place,
And 'e gives it a proper inspection, wi' a 'eap o' surprise on 'is face.
Then 'e says wi' an accent o' Scotland: "Whit ye hae is a bile, Ah can feel,
But ye'd better consult the heid Dockter; they caw him Professor O'Niel.
He's special for biles and carbuncles. Ye'll find him in Room Sixty-three.
No charge, Ma'am. It's been a rare pleasure. Jist tell him ye're comin' from me."

So Misses she thanks 'im politely, and 'unts up and down as before,
Till she comes to a big 'andsome room with "Professor O'Neil" on the door.
Then once more she plucks up her courage, and knocks, and a voice says: "All right."
So she enters, and sees a fat feller wi' whiskers, all togged up in white.
"I've got a big boil," says my Missis, "and if ye will kindly permit,
I'd like for to 'ave you inspect it; it 'urts me like all when I sit."
So blushin' as red as a beet-root she 'astens to show 'im the spot,
And 'e says wi' a look o' amazement: "Sure, Ma'am, it must hurt ye a lot."
Then 'e puts on 'is specs to regard it, and finally says wi' a frown:
"I'll bet it's as sore as the divvle, especially whin ye sit down.
I think it's a case for the Surgeon; ye'd better consult Doctor Hoyle.
I've no hisitation in sayin' yer boil is a hill of a boil."

So Misses she thanks 'im for sayin' her boil is a hill of a boil,
And 'unts all around till she comes on a door that is marked: "Doctor Hoyle."
But by now she 'as fair got the wind up, and trembles in every limb;
But she thinks: "After all, 'e's a Doctor. Ah moosn't be bashful wi' 'im."
She's made o' good stuff is the Missis, so she knocks and a voice says: "Oos there?"
"It's me," says ma Bessie, an' enters a room which is spacious and bare.
And a wise-lookin' old feller greets 'er, and 'e too is togged up in white.
"It's the room where they coot ye," thinks Bessie; and shakes like a jelly wi' fright.
"Ah got a big boil," begins Missis, "and if ye are sure you don't mind,
I'd like ye to see it a moment. It 'urts me, because it's be'ind."
So thinkin' she'd best get it over, she 'astens to show 'im the place,
And 'e stares at 'er kindo surprised like, an' gets very red in the face.
But 'e looks at it most conscientious, from every angle of view,
Then 'e says wi' a shrug o' 'is shoulders: "Pore Lydy, I'm sorry for you.
It wants to be cut, but you should 'ave a medical bloke to do that.
Sye, why don't yer go to the 'orsespittel, where all the Doctors is at?
Ye see, Ma'am, this part o' the buildin' is closed on account o' repairs;
Us fellers is only the pynters, a-pyntin' the 'alls and the stairs."


Written by Marriott Edgar | Create an image from this poem

Richard Coeur de Lion

 Richard the First, Coeur-de-Lion, 
Is a name that we speak of with pride, 
Though he only lived six months in England
From his birth to the day that he died. 

He spent all his time fighting battles, 
Dressed up in most rigid attire, 
For he had his suits made by the Blacksmith, 
And his underwear knitted of wire. 

He married a lady from Flanders, 
Berengaria's what they called her; 
She turned out a good wife to Richard, 
In spite of a name like that there. 

For when he came home from his fighting 
She'd bandage the wounds in his sconce, 
And every time a snake bit him 
She'd suck out the poison at once. 

In their 'ouse they'd a minstrel called Blondel 
To amuse them at t'end of the day' 
And the King had but one thing against him...
He had nobbut one tune he could play. 

The Queen saw nowt wrong with the number 
And would have it again and again, 
And when Richard said: "Put a sock in it!" 
She'd give 'im a look full of pain. 

The King got fed up at the finish, 
And were so sick of 'earing it played, 
That he packed his spare suit on a wagon 
And went off and joined the Crusade.

He got fighting the moment he landed,
And though Saracen lads did their best, 
He cut off their heads in such numbers, 
That the hatmakers lodged a protest. 

The Sultan, whose name were Saladin, 
Thought he'd best try this business to stem,
So he rode up to Richard and told him 
He mustn't do that there to them. 

Said Richard: "Oh! Who's going to stop me?" 
Said Saladin: "I will-and quick!" 
So the King poked his sword at the Sultan, 
Who, in turn, swiped his skimpter at Dick. 

They fought all that day without ceasing; 
They fought till at last they both saw 
That each was a match for the other, 
So they chucked it and called it a draw. 

As Richard rode home in the moonlight 
He heard someone trying to croon, 
And there by the roadside stood Blondel, 
Still playing his signature tune. 

He'd worked out his passage from England 
In search of his Master and Lord, 
And had swum the last part of the journey 
'Cos his tune got 'im thrown overboard. 

This meeting filled Richard with panic: 
He rode off and never drew rein 
Till he got past the Austrian border 
And felt he could breathe once again. 

He hid in a neighbouring Castle,
But he hadn't been there very long 
When one night just outside his window 
Stood Blondel, still singing his song. 

This 'ere took the heart out of Richard;
He went home dejected and low, 
And the very next fight he got into 
He were killed without striking a blow.
Written by Marriott Edgar | Create an image from this poem

Balbus

 I'll tell you the story of Balbus, 
You know, him as builded a wall;
I'll tell you the reason he built it, 
And the place where it happened an' all.

This 'ere Balbus, though only a Tackler, 
Were the most enterprising of men;
He'd heard Chicken Farms were lucrative, 
So he went out and purchased a hen.

'Twere a White Wyandot he called Mabel, 
At laying she turned out a peach,
And her eggs being all double-yoked ones 
He reckoned they'd fetch twopence each.

When he took them along to the market 
And found that the eggs that sold best
Were them as came over from China 
He were vexed, but in no ways depressed.

For Balbus, though only a Tackler, 
In business were far from a dunce,
So he packed Mabel up in a basket 
And started for China at once.

When he got there he took a small holding, 
And selecting the sunniest part,
He lifted the lid of the basket
And said "Come on, lass... make a start!"

The 'en needed no second biddin', 
She sat down and started to lay;
She'd been saving up all the way over 
And laid sixteen eggs, straight away.

When the Chinamen heard what had happened
Their cheeks went the colour of mud, 
They said it were sheer mass production
As had to be nipped in the bud.

They formed themselves in a committee 
And tried to arrive at some course
Whereby they could limit the output 
Without doing harm to the source.

At the finish they came to t' conclusion 
That the easiest road they could take
Were to fill the 'en's nest up wi' scrap-iron 
So as fast as she laid eggs they'd break.

When Balbus went out the next morning 
To fetch the eggs Mabel had laid
He found nowt but shells and albumen
He were hipped, but in no ways dismayed.

For Balbus, though only a Tackler, 
He'd a brain that were fertile and quick
He bought all the scrap-iron in t' district 
To stop them repeating the trick.

But next day, to his great consternation 
He were met with another reverse,
For instead of old iron they'd used clinker 
And the eggs looked the same, or worse.

'Twere a bit of a set-back for Balbus, 
But he wasn't downhearted at all,
And when t' Chinamen came round next evening
They found he were building a wall.

"That won't keep us out of your 'en 'ouse"
Said one, with a smug kind of grin; 
It's not for that purpose," said Balbus, 
"When it's done, it will keep you lot in."

The Chinamen all burst out laffing, 
They thowt as he'd gone proper daft
But Balbus got on wi' his building
And said "He laffed last who last laffed."

Day by day Balbus stuck to his building, 
And his efforts he never did cease
Till he'd builded the Great Wall of China 
So as Mabel could lay eggs in peace.
Written by Rudyard Kipling | Create an image from this poem

Sussex

 God gave all men all earth to love,
 But, since our hearts are small
Ordained for each one spot should prove
 Beloved over all;
That, as He watched Creation's birth,
 So we, in godlike mood,
May of our love create our earth
 And see that it is good.

So one shall Baltic pines content,
 As one some Surrey glade,
Or one the palm-grove's droned lament
 Before Levuka's Trade.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
 The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground-in a fair ground --
 Yea, Sussex by the sea!

No tender-hearted garden crowns,
 No bosonied woods adorn
Our blunt, bow-headed, whale-backed Downs,
 But gnarled and writhen thorn --
Bare slopes where chasing shadows skim,
 And, through the gaps revealed,
Belt upon belt, the wooded, dim,
 Blue goodness of the Weald.

Clean of officious fence or hedge,
 Half-wild and wholly tame,
The wise turf cloaks the white cliff-edge
 As when the Romans came.
What sign of those that fought and died
 At shift of sword and sword?
The barrow and the camp abide,
 The sunlight and the sward.

Here leaps ashore the full Sou'west
 All heavy-winged with brine,
Here lies above the folded crest
 The Channel's leaden line,
And here the sea-fogs lap and cling,
 And here, each warning each,
The sheep-bells and the ship-bells ring
 Along the hidden beach.

We have no waters to delight
 Our broad and brookless vales --
Only the dewpond on the height
 Unfed, that never fails --
Whereby no tattered herbage tells
 Which way the season flies --
Only our close-bit thyme that smells
 Like dawn in Paradise.

Here through the strong and shadeless days
 The tinkling silence thrills;
Or little, lost, Down churches praise
 The Lord who made the hills:
But here the Old Gods guard their round,
 And, in her secret heart,
The heathen kingdom Wilfrid found
 Dreams, as she dwells, apart.

Though all the rest were all my share,
 With equal soul I'd see
Her nine-and-thirty sisters fair,
 Yet none more fair than she.
Choose ye your need from Thames to Tweed,
 And I will choose instead
Such lands as lie 'twixt Rake and Rye,
 Black Down and Beachy Head.

I will go out against the sun
 Where the rolled scarp retires,
And the Long Man of Wilmington
 Looks naked toward the shires;
And east till doubling Rother crawls
 To find the fickle tide,
By dry and sea-forgotten walls,
 Our ports of stranded pride.

I will go north about the shaws
 And the deep ghylls that breed
Huge oaks and old, the which we hold
 No more than Sussex weed;
Or south where windy Piddinghoe's
 Begilded dolphin veers,
And red beside wide-banked Ouse
 Lie down our Sussex steers.

So to the land our hearts we give
 Til the sure magic strike,
And Memory, Use, and Love make live
 Us and our fields alike --
That deeper than our speech and thought,
 Beyond our reason's sway,
Clay of the pit whence we were wrought
 Yearns to its fellow-clay.

God gives all men all earth to love,
 But, since man's heart is smal,
Ordains for each one spot shal prove
 Beloved over all.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
 The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground-in a fair ground --
 Yea, Sussex by the sea!
Written by Thomas Paine | Create an image from this poem

No situation but may envy thee

No situation but may envy thee,
Holding such intimacy with the sea,
Many do that, but my delighted muse
Says, Neptune's fairest daughter is the Little Ouse.


Written by Marriott Edgar | Create an image from this poem

Asparagus

 Mr. Ramsbottom went to the races, 
A thing as he'd ne'er done before,
And as luck always follers beginners, 
Won five pounds, no-less and no-more.

He felt himself suddenly tempted
To indulge in some reckless orgee, 
So he went to a caffy-a-teerer 
And had a dressed crab with his tea.

He were crunching the claws at the finish
And wondering what next he would do, 
Then his thoughts turned to home and to Mother,
And what she would say when she knew. 

For Mother were dead against racing 
And said as she thought 'twere a sin 
For people to gamble their money 
Unless they were certain to win.

These homely domestic reflections 
Seemed to cast quite a gloom on Pa's day
He thought he'd best take home a present 
And square up the matter that way.

' Twere a bit ofa job to decide on 
What best to select for this 'ere,
So he started to look in shop winders 
In hopes as he'd get some idea.

He saw some strange stuff in a fruit shop 
Like leeks with their nobby ends gone,
It were done up in bundles like firewood- 
Said Pa to the Shopman, "What's yon?"

"That's Ass-paragus-what the Toffs eat" 
Were the answer; said Pa "That 'll suit,
I'd best take a couple of bundles, 
For Mother's a bobby for fruit."

He started off home with his purchase 
And pictured Ma all the next week
Eating sparagus fried with her bacon 
Or mashed up in bubble-and-squeak.

He knew when she heard he'd been racing 
She'd very nigh talk him to death,
So he thought as he'd call in the ' Local' 
To strengthen his nerve and his breath.

He had hardly got up to the counter 
When a friend of his walked in the bar,
He said "What ye got in the bundle?" 
"A present for Mother," said Pa.

It's 'sparagus stuff what the Toffs eat " 
His friend said "It's a rum-looking plant,
Can I have the green ends for my rabbits?" 
said Pa "Aye, cut off what you want.

He cut all the tips off one bundle,
Then some more friends arrived one by one, 
And all of them seemed to keep rabbits 
Pa had no green ends left when they'd done.

When he got home the 'ouse were in dark ness,
So he slipped in as sly as a fox, 
Laid the 'sparagus on kitchen table 
And crept up to bed in his socks.

He got in without waking Mother, 
A truly remarkable feat,
And pictured her telling the neighbours 
As 'twere 'sparagus-what the toffs eat.

But when he woke up in the morning 
It were nigh on a quarter to ten,
There were no signs of Mother, or breakfast
Said Pa, "What's she done with her-sen?"

He shouted "What's up theer in t' kitchen?"
She replied, "You do well to enquire,
Them bundles of chips as you brought home 
Is so damp... I can't light the fire."
Written by William Cowper | Create an image from this poem

The Task: Book I The Sofa (excerpts)

 Thou know'st my praise of nature most sincere,
And that my raptures are not conjur'd up
To serve occasions of poetic pomp,
But genuine, and art partner of them all.
How oft upon yon eminence our pace
Has slacken'd to a pause, and we have borne
The ruffling wind, scarce conscious that it blew,
While admiration, feeding at the eye,
And still unsated, dwelt upon the scene.
Thence with what pleasure have we just discern'd
The distant plough slow moving, and beside
His lab'ring team, that swerv'd not from the track,
The sturdy swain diminish'd to a boy!
Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain
Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o'er,
Conducts the eye along its sinuous course
Delighted. There, fast rooted in his bank,
Stand, never overlook'd, our fav'rite elms,
That screen the herdsman's solitary hut;
While far beyond, and overthwart the stream
That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale,
The sloping land recedes into the clouds;
Displaying on its varied side the grace
Of hedge-row beauties numberless, square tow'r,
Tall spire, from which the sound of cheerful bells
Just undulates upon the list'ning ear,
Groves, heaths and smoking villages remote.
Scenes must be beautiful, which, daily view'd,
Please daily, and whose novelty survives
Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years.
Praise justly due to those that I describe....


But though true worth and virtue, in the mild
And genial soil of cultivated life,
Thrive most, and may perhaps thrive only there,
Yet not in cities oft: in proud and gay
And gain-devoted cities. Thither flow,
As to a common and most noisome sewer,
The dregs and feculence of every land.
In cities foul example on most minds
Begets its likeness. Rank abundance breeds
In gross and pamper'd cities sloth and lust,
And wantonness and gluttonous excess.
In cities vice is hidden with most ease,
Or seen with least reproach; and virtue, taught
By frequent lapse, can hope no triumph there
Beyond th' achievement of successful flight.
I do confess them nurseries of the arts,
In which they flourish most; where, in the beams
Of warm encouragement, and in the eye
Of public note, they reach their perfect size.
Such London is, by taste and wealth proclaim'd
The fairest capital of all the world,
By riot and incontinence the worst.
There, touch'd by Reynolds, a dull blank becomes
A lucid mirror, in which Nature sees
All her reflected features. Bacon there
Gives more than female beauty to a stone,
And Chatham's eloquence to marble lips....


God made the country, and man made the town.
What wonder then that health and virtue, gifts
That can alone make sweet the bitter draught
That life holds out to all, should most abound
And least be threaten'd in the fields and groves?
Possess ye therefore, ye who, borne about
In chariots and sedans, know no fatigue
But that of idleness, and taste no scenes
But such as art contrives, possess ye still
Your element; there only ye can shine,
There only minds like yours can do no harm.
Our groves were planted to console at noon
The pensive wand'rer in their shades. At eve
The moonbeam, sliding softly in between
The sleeping leaves, is all the light they wish,
Birds warbling all the music. We can spare
The splendour of your lamps, they but eclipse
Our softer satellite. Your songs confound
Our more harmonious notes: the thrush departs
Scared, and th' offended nightingale is mute.
There is a public mischief in your mirth;
It plagues your country. Folly such as yours,
Grac'd with a sword, and worthier of a fan,
Has made, which enemies could ne'er have done,
Our arch of empire, steadfast but for you,
A mutilated structure, soon to fall.
Written by Rudyard Kipling | Create an image from this poem

Loot

 If you've ever stole a pheasant-egg be'ind the keeper's back,
 If you've ever snigged the washin' from the line,
If you've ever crammed a gander in your bloomin' 'aversack,
 You will understand this little song o' mine.
But the service rules are 'ard, an' from such we are debarred,
 For the same with English morals does not suit.
 (Cornet: Toot! toot!)
W'y, they call a man a robber if 'e stuffs 'is marchin' clobber
 With the --
(Chorus) Loo! loo! Lulu! lulu! Loo! loo! Loot! loot! loot!
 Ow the loot!
 Bloomin' loot!
 That's the thing to make the boys git up an' shoot!
 It's the same with dogs an' men,
 If you'd make 'em come again
 Clap 'em forward with a Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot!
 (ff) Whoopee! Tear 'im, puppy! Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot! loot! loot!

If you've knocked a ****** edgeways when 'e's thrustin' for your life,
 You must leave 'im very careful where 'e fell;
An' may thank your stars an' gaiters if you didn't feel 'is knife
 That you ain't told off to bury 'im as well.
Then the sweatin' Tommies wonder as they spade the beggars under
 Why lootin' should be entered as a crime;
So if my song you'll 'ear, I will learn you plain an' clear
 'Ow to pay yourself for fightin' overtime.
(Chorus) With the loot, . . .

Now remember when you're 'acking round a gilded Burma god
 That 'is eyes is very often precious stones;
An' if you treat a ****** to a dose o' cleanin'-rod
 'E's like to show you everything 'e owns.
When 'e won't prodooce no more, pour some water on the floor
 Where you 'ear it answer 'ollow to the boot
 (Cornet: Toot! toot!) --
When the ground begins to sink, shove your baynick down the chink,
 An' you're sure to touch the --
(Chorus) Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot! loot! loot!
 Ow the loot! . . .

When from 'ouse to 'ouse you're 'unting, you must always work in pairs --
 It 'alves the gain, but safer you will find --
For a single man gets bottled on them twisty-wisty stairs,
 An' a woman comes and clobs 'im from be'ind.
When you've turned 'em inside out, an' it seems beyond a doubt
 As if there weren't enough to dust a flute
 (Cornet: Toot! toot!) --
Before you sling your 'ook, at the 'ousetops take a look,
 For it's underneath the tiles they 'ide the loot.
(Chorus) Ow the loot! . . .

You can mostly square a Sergint an' a Quartermaster too,
 If you only take the proper way to go;
I could never keep my pickin's, but I've learned you all I knew --
 An' don't you never say I told you so.
An' now I'll bid good-bye, for I'm gettin' rather dry,
 An' I see another tunin' up to toot
 (Cornet: Toot! toot!) --
So 'ere's good-luck to those that wears the Widow's clo'es,
 An' the Devil send 'em all they want o' loot!
(Chorus) Yes, the loot,
 Bloomin' loot!
 In the tunic an' the mess-tin an' the boot!
 It's the same with dogs an' men,
 If you'd make 'em come again
 (fff) Whoop 'em forward with a Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot! loot! loot!
 Heeya! Sick 'im, puppy! Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot! loot! loot!
Written by Michael Drayton | Create an image from this poem

Sonnet XXXII: Our Floods-Queen Thames

 Our flood's-queen Thames for ships and swans is crown'd, 
And stately Severn for her shore is prais'd, 
The crystal Trent for fords and fish renown'd, 
And Avon's fame to Albion's cliffs is rais'd; 
Carlegion Chester vaunts her holy Dee, 
York many wonders of her Ouse can tell, 
The Peak her Dove, whose banks so fertile be, 
And Kent will say her Medway doth excell; 
Cotswold commends her Isis to the Thame, 
Our Northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood, 
Our Western parts extol their Wylye's fame, 
And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood. 
Arden's sweet Anker, let thy glory be, 
That fair Idea only lives by thee.
Written by Alfred Lord Tennyson | Create an image from this poem

Northern Farmer: New Style

 Dosn't thou 'ear my 'erse's legs, as they canters awaäy?
Proputty, proputty, proputty--that's what I 'ears 'em saäy.
Proputty, proputty, proputty--Sam, thou's an ass for thy paaïns:
Theer's moor sense i' one o' 'is legs, nor in all thy braaïns.
Woä--theer's a craw to pluck wi' tha, Sam; yon 's parson's 'ouse--
Dosn't thou knaw that a man mun be eäther a man or a mouse?
Time to think on it then; for thou'll be twenty to weeäk.
Proputty, proputty--woä then, woä--let ma 'ear mysén speäk.
Me an' thy muther, Sammy, 'as been a'talkin' o' thee;
Thou's beän talkin' to muther, an' she beän a tellin' it me.
Thou'll not marry for munny--thou's sweet upo' parson's lass--
Noä--thou 'll marry for luvv--an' we boäth of us thinks tha an ass.

Seeä'd her todaäy goä by--Saäint's-daäy--they was ringing the bells.
She's a beauty, thou thinks--an' soä is scoors o' gells,
Them as 'as munny an' all--wot's a beauty?--the flower as blaws.
But proputty, proputty sticks, an' proputty, proputty graws.

Do'ant be stunt; taäke time. I knaws what maäkes tha sa mad.
Warn't I craäzed fur the lasses mysén when I wur a lad?
But I knaw'd a Quaäker feller as often 'as towd ma this:
"Doänt thou marry for munny, but goä wheer munny is!"

An' I went wheer munny war; an' thy muther coom to 'and,
Wi' lots o' munny laaïd by, an' a nicetish bit o' land.
Maäybe she warn't a beauty--I niver giv it a thowt--
But warn't she as good to cuddle an' kiss as a lass as 'ant nowt?

Parson's lass 'ant nowt, an' she weänt 'a nowt when 'e 's deäd,
Mun be a guvness, lad, or summut, and addle her breäd.
Why? for 'e 's nobbut a curate, an' weänt niver get hissén clear,
An' 'e maäde the bed as 'e ligs on afoor 'e coom'd to the shere.

An' thin 'e coom'd to the parish wi' lots o' Varsity debt,
Stook to his taäil thy did, an' 'e 'ant got shut on 'em yet.
An' 'e ligs on 'is back i' the grip, wi' noän to lend 'im a shuvv,
Woorse nor a far-welter'd yowe: fur, Sammy, 'e married for luvv.

Luvv? what's luvv? thou can luvv thy lass an' 'er munny too,
Maäkin' 'em goä togither, as they've good right to do.
Couldn I luvv thy muther by cause 'o 'er munny laaïd by?
Naäy--fur I luvv'd 'er a vast sight moor fur it: reäson why.

Ay, an' thy muther says thou wants to marry the lass,
Cooms of a gentleman burn: an' we boäth on us thinks tha an ass.
Woä then, proputty, wiltha?--an ass as near as mays nowt--
Woä then, wiltha? dangtha!--the bees is as fell as owt.

Breäk me a bit o' the esh for his 'eäd, lad, out o' the fence!
Gentleman burn! what's gentleman burn? is it shillins an' pence?
Proputty, proputty's ivrything 'ere, an', Sammy, I'm blest
If it isn't the saäme oop yonder, fur them as 'as it 's the best.

Tis'n them as 'as munny as breaks into 'ouses an' steäls,
Them as 'as coats to their backs an' taäkes their regular meäls,
Noä, but it 's them as niver knaws wheer a meäl's to be 'ad.
Taäke my word for it Sammy, the poor in a loomp is bad.

Them or thir feythers, tha sees, mun 'a beän a laäzy lot,
Fur work mun 'a gone to the gittin' whiniver munny was got.
Feyther 'ad ammost nowt; leastways 'is munny was 'id.
But 'e tued an' moil'd issén dead, an' 'e died a good un, 'e did.

Looök thou theer wheer Wrigglesby beck cooms out by the 'ill!
Feyther run oop to the farm, an' I runs oop to the mill;
An' I 'll run oop to the brig, an' that thou 'll live to see;
And if thou marries a good un I 'll leäve the land to thee.

Thim's my noätions, Sammy, wheerby I means to stick;
But if thou marries a bad un, I 'll leäve the land to Dick.--
Coom oop, proputty, proputty--that's what I 'ears 'im saäy--
Proputty, proputty, proputty--canter an' canter awaäy.

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry