WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Songs of the Ridings cover

Songs of the Ridings

Chapter 22: Mary Mecca
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

The collection contains twenty-five dialect poems, mainly dramatic monologues and character sketches that portray Yorkshire peasants, artisans, and farmers. Using local speech and rural scenes—farm work, hearthside gatherings, lamplighters, and seasonal customs—the verses evoke community life, regional pride, and anxieties about education and social change. The poems aim to make poetry accessible to working people by preserving local voice and rendering individual psychology through plain, dramatic address, showing both affectionate observation and critical reflection.

Mary Mecca

Mary Mecca,[1] Mary Mecca,
    I’m fain to see thee here,
A Devon lass to fill my glass
    O’ home-brewed Yorkshire beer.
I awlus said that foreigners
    Sud niver mel on me;
But sike a viewly face as thine
    I’d travel far to see.

Mary Mecca, Mary Mecca,
    I’m sad to see thee here,
Wheer t’ wind blaws hask[2] frae Norway
    I’ t’ spring-time o’ the year.
I’d liever finnd thee sittin’,
    Wi’ a bowl o’ cruds an’ cream,
Wheer t’ foxglove bells ring through the dells,
    Anent a Dartmoor stream.

Mary Mecca, Mary Mecca,
    The way thou snods thy hair,
It maks my heart go dancin’
    Like winnlestraws[3] i’ t’ air.
One neet I heard thee singin’,
    As I cam home frae toon;
’Twas sweet as curlews makkin’ love
    Agean a risin’ moon.

Mary Mecca, Mary Mecca,
    I dream o’ thy gray een;
I think on all I’ve wasted,
    An’ what I might hae been.
I’m nowt but muck off t’ midden,
    So all I axe is this:
Just blaw the froth from off my yal[4];
    ’Twill seem most like a kiss.

[1] Metcalfe.

[2] Keenly.

[3] Whisps of grass or straw.

[4] Ale.