Songs of Jamaica (1912)
A Midnight Woman to the Bobby
No palm me up,[1] you dutty brute,
You’ jam mout’ mash[2] like ripe bread-fruit;
You fas’n now, but wait lee ya,[3]
I’ll see you grunt under de law.
You t’ink you wise,[4] but we wi’ see;
You not de fus’ one fas’ wid me;
I’ll lib fe see dem tu’n you out,
As sure as you got dat mash’ mout’.
I born right do’n beneat’ de clack[5]
(You ugly brute, you tu’n you’ back?)
Don’ t’ink dat I’m a come-aroun’,[6]
I born right ‘way in ‘panish Town.
Care how you try,[7] you caan’ do mo’
Dan many dat was hyah befo’;
Yet whe’ dey all o’ dem te-day?[8]
De buccra dem no kick dem ‘way?[9]
Ko[10] pon you’ jam samplatta[11] nose:
‘Cos you wear Mis’r Koshaw clo’es[12]
You fink say youts de only man,[13]
Yet fus’ time[14] ko how you be’n ‘tan’.[15]
You big an’ ugly ole tu’n-foot[16]
Be’n neber know fe wear a boot;
An’ chigger nyam you’ tumpa toe,[17]
Till nit full i’ like herrin’ roe.
You come from mountain naked-‘kin,[18]
An’ Lard a mussy! you be’n thin,
For all de bread-fruit dem be’n done,
Bein’ ‘poil’ up by de tearin’ sun:[19]
De coco[20] couldn’ bear at all,
For, Lard! de groun’ was pure white~marl;
An’ t’rough de rain part o’ de year[21]
De mango tree dem couldn’ bear.
An’ when de pinch o’ time you feel
A ‘pur you a you’ chigger heel,[22]
You lef you’ district, big an’ coarse,
An’ come join’[23] buccra Police Force.
An’ now you don’t wait fe you’ glass,[24]
But trouble me wid you’ jam fas’;[25]
But wait, me frien’, you’ day wi’ come,
I’ll see you go same lak a some.[26]
Say wha’? — ‘res’ me?[27] — you go to hell!
You t’ink Judge don’t know unno well?[28]
You t’ink him gwin’ go sentance[29] me
Widout a soul fe witness i’?
- Don't put your hands on me ↵
- Your d---d mouth is all awry ↵
- You are fast (meddling, officious) now, but wait a little, d'you hear? ↵
- You think you're wise ↵
- The clock on the public buildings at Spanish Town ↵
- Day-labourers, men and women, in Kingston streets and wharves, famous for the heavy weights they carry, are called come-arounds ↵
- No matter how you try, you can't do more than your predecessors (all that were here before) ↵
- Yet where are they all to-day? ↵
- Did not the buccra (white man) kick them away (dismiss them)? ↵
- Look ↵
- A piece of leather cut somewhat larger than the size of the foot, and tied sandal-wise to it : said of anything that is flat and broad ↵
- Mr Kershaw's clothes" i.e., police uniform. Col. Kershaw. Inspector-General of Police in 1911 (when this poem was written) and for many years before ↵
- A mighty fine fellow ↵
- When I knew you first ↵
- Look what sort of figure you cut ↵
- Turned-in foot ↵
- And chigoes (burrowing fleas) had eaten into your maimed toe, and nits (young chigoes) had filled it ↵
- Naked skin, i.e., with your shirt and trousers full of holes ↵
- Having been spoilt by the hot sun. Pronounce 'bein' as a monosyllable ↵
- An editble root (Colocasia antiquorum) ↵
- During some months ↵
- And when you felt hard times spurring you in your chigger. eaten heel ↵
- Come and joined ↵
- You don't wait for the right and proper moment ↵
- With all your infernal forwardness and officiousness ↵
- Same like some = just as others before you did ↵
- What's that? — arrest me? ↵
- D'you think the magistrate doesn't know your tricks? Unno or Onnoo is an African word, meaning "you" collectively ↵
- Pronounce the a 'ah,' but without accent ↵