ACH,AH’M ONLY MIDDLIN’
courtesy internet
“Ach dammit it Jimmy, how’re ye doin’?
Are ye in the town the day?”
“Ach, Ah’m only middlin’, Mrs Breen,
This cowl won’t go away.
Ah’ve it now a month or more,
It’s settled on me chest,
There’s days I’m feelin’ rightly
And there’s days Ah’m naw the best.”
“Lord bless me sowl now Jimmy,
There’s a lot o’ that about
Hiv ye been tay see the doctor?
We don’t want ye conkin’ out,”
“Shure Ah hiv no faith in doctors
An’ Ah’ll tell ye, Mrs Breen,
They always bury their mistakes,
That’s why they’re nivir seen.”
“Ach, dammits Jimmy Ah don’t know,
They do the best they can:
Ah’m still wi’ doctor so and so –
But he’s a quare wee man.”
“My doctor’s killed wi’ ulcers,
He canne cure ‘imsel’.
Ah’ll stick tay whiskey, Mrs Breen,
An’ let them go tay hell.”
“Isn’t it terrible weather, Jimmy?
Lashin’ night an’ day?”
“Aw, terible weather, Mrs Breen,
We.ll al’be washed away.”
“Aw, terrible weather, Jimmy
There’s no end tay the rain.”
“Aw, terrible weather, Mrs Bree,
Luk, there’s it on again!”
“Lord bliss me sowl now Jimmy,
Is it niver goin’ to stap?”
“There’s not wan farmer, Mrs Breen,
Who’ll hiv a daisent crop?”
“Sure ivery place is boggin’Jimmy.”
“Aye, boggin’, Mrs Breen.”
“It’s terrible weather, Jimmy.”
“Ach, the worst Ah’ve iver seen.”
“Ah hope it settles, Jimmy,
Before it’s too late.”
“The cattle’s starvin’, Mrs Breen
Jist plouterin’ ‘ound the gate.”
“Lord bliss me sowl now jimmy,
Is it niver goin’, tay end?”
“We’ll al’ be drounded,” Mrs Breen,
If the weather disne mend.”
“Be God, yer right now Jimmy
We’ll be headin’ fur the hills.
They say the very pirdies
Is rotten in the drills.”
“Aye, jist this mornin’, Mrs Breen,
Ah wuz sayin’ tay the wife.
Ah,ve nivir seen such weather,
In al’ me livin’ life.”
This poem was first published in
‘The Belated Balladeer ‘– a published book 0f Ballad and Poems 1996
Gemma Hill Writeyou Writeme 