I tried to read them, I really did.
You know those classics by Owen and Yates
And their kindred
But my head hurt and my eyes rebelled
And my brain, it began to swell
As I chased the lines trying
To keep the pace, but I couldn’t
It wisnae they were bad or ah’m stupit
It wisnae thit ah couldnae understaun it
It wisnae this ma heid hid been screwed
By ma teens an twenties an the drugs ah took
Bit is ma eyes looked oan thir wurds
Ah felt the tiredness come oer me
The resignation, the depression, the feeling so low
Then it hit me like a hammer blow
Whit wiz causin me to age
is ma eyes stared doon at the page
Wiz these poems wirnae written in ma language
Fir years wir told “Speak properly”
An tae bear the shame that oor wirds make
That if we wanted tae get anywair
Then wed hiv tae talk better
Bit the wae ah speak is the wae I think
An yes academics don’t see the link
Written English is no ma first
ah hiv tae translate
Whit you say oan yir page
Noo even this is ye can see, started aff NORMALLY
Well, fir you, maybe
But soon descended tae ma native tongue
Glasgow dialect is ma number wan
Its how ah wis taught tae speak since a could
First think and greet
Owen and Yeats an aw that crew
Ah get it thair great, classic poets too
Bit fur me if ah want a rhyme
Then Tom Leonard’s ma man
Time aifter time
An if a want a book tae read
Graeme’s Young Team cannae be beat
Cos they write how ah think
an ah don’t need tae translate
Tae how you speak so get tae spend
Mair time, enjoying thair wordz
Jist cos thair the same is mine
©️Stuart Patterson 2021
Completing the Tenner 