Love Poems and Others/Violets
VIOLETS
Sister, tha knows while we was on the planks Aside o’ th’ grave, while th’ coffin wor lyin’ yetOn th’ yaller clay, an’ th’ white flowers top of it Tryin’ to keep off ’n him a bit o’ th’ wet,
An’ parson makin’ haste, an’ a’ the black Huddlin’ close together a cause o’ th’ rain,Did t’ ’appen ter notice a bit of a lass away back By a head-stun, sobbin’ an’ sobbin’ again?
—How should I be lookin’ round An’ me standin’ on the plank Beside the open ground, Where our Ted ’ud soon be sank?
Yi, an’ ’im that young, Snapped sudden out of all His wickedness, among Pals worse n’r ony name as you could call.
Let be that; there’s some o’ th’ bad as we Like better nor all your good, an’ ’e was one.—An’ cos I liked him best, yi, bett’r nor thee, I canna bide to think where he is gone.
Ah know tha liked ’im bett’r nor me. But let Me tell thee about this lass. When you had goneAh stopped behind on t’ pad i’ th’ drippin wet An’ watched what ’er ’ad on.
Tha should ha’ seed her slive up when we’d gone, Tha should ha’ seed her kneel an’ look in At th’ sloppy wet grave—an’ ’er little neck shone That white, an’ ’er shook that much, I’d like to begin
Scraïghtin’ my-sen as well. ’En undid her black Jacket at th’ bosom, an’ took from out of it Over a double ’andful of violets, all in a pack Ravelled blue and white—warm, for a bit
O’ th’ smell come waftin’ to me. ’Er put ’er face Right intil ’em and scraïghted out again, Then after a bit ’er dropped ’em down that place, An’ I come away, because o’ the teemin’ rain.