Thanks Amos, that was how I felt about the first line as well, but the trouble was was that Sorcha was asking for a poem written in an older style than I talk and I was going with the sense of what I have heard my whole life.

And so Snuffy, does thee use the familiar all the time? I have heard tha' for thou, and it is tha'rt there? Here we are more than a bit of a curiosity, but for me to use the formal with a family member would be a slap. (When I was growing up with a mother that did not value the plain talk as I did, I discovered that when I was angry with her beyond all reason, I could call her 'you', which was the WORST thing I could think of to call her--it implying, in my mind, complete rejection--and she wouldn't even notice!)

InOBU, my grandparents were members of the Manhassett Meeting, and are buried there. My father was married (the second time) there, and I sang for his wedding. I wished to be married there, but as my ever-procrastinating dad had never put me on the birth rolls, and I was a practising Christian Scientist, the committee on clearness (my cousin) felt that he could not clear that. So I got married at home, have raised 3 plain-talking children and celebrate our 26th anniversary next week. Not much help to Kate, but we're doing our part to keep the language diverse! (BTW Jessica is STILL in her youth, and all the old Quaker ladies I knew were relatives, so all I ever heard from them was thee and thy!)

CamiSu