DEETH l' THE STREET

RECITATION. 'TWES a fearful seet,
l' the winter's neet,
A wummin lyin drunk i' the street.

Sum thowt she wes bad,
Or deed wi' the cawd,
She luckt se starved an' se poorly clad.

They wad tyek her up,
An' give her a sup:
Her breeth smelt strang 0' the cursed cup.

They myest.let her fall,
But a frindly wall
Stopt her, as she opened her shawl.

What wes that that fell?
Aw can hardly tell.
Was she a wummin or fiend from hell?

Se drunk i' the street,
On a winter's neet,
Wiv her bairn lyin a corpse at her feet!

'Twes frozen te deeth,
An' they held thor breeth,
As they held the corpse, wi' chatterin teeth.

Poor thing! it wes cawd;
A bonny bit lad;
Eneuff te myek the most heartless sad.

They teuk them away;
An' a frosty day
Opened as they i' the station lay.

Aw'm silent an' brief
On a muther's grief;
But i' deeth, that day, she'd felt relief:

For a lifeless child,
An' a parent wild,
Wes seen, as the sun shone soft an' mild.

'Here the nation's curse
On a bairnless nurse
Wes seen iv its evils, strong in force.

An' so it 'ill be,
Till the country's free
Frae the drink that works such misery.

-Source: Joe Wilson, (author) Songs and Drolleries, 1890