Songs of Jamaica (1912)
Heart-Stirrings
You axe me as de bell begin fe ‘trike,
Me Mikey, ef de wuk a didn’ like;
De queshton, like de bell, soun’ in me heart
Same how de anvil usual mek me ‘tart.[1]
You’s a chil’[2] an’ know naught ’bout de wul’ yet,
But you’ll grow an’ larn t’ings you won’t feget;
You lub you’ life, an’ t’ink dere’s nuttin’ better,
Yet all you’ pickny dream dem soon will ‘ketter.[3]
Tek me advice ya, chil’, an’ as you grow
Don’t choose a wuk dat you no like: aldough
You might see money in o’ it, at lengt’
You will get tired o’ it an’ repent.
A suffer, but I t’ink it mek me wise;
It wasn’ fe de money ‘trike me yeyes,[4]
But “water mo’ ‘an flour”[5] is true wud,
An’ eye-water run too long tu’n to blood.[6]
Hard life caan’ kill me, but annoyance might,
Me lub me right, an’ fe it me wi’ fight:
Me wi’ lef beef fe nyam an’ choose cow-lung,
Fe sabe meself from an annoying tongue.[7]
But sometime’, chil’, you jump from fryin’-pan
‘Traight in a fire; an’, try as you can,
You caan’ come out, but always wishin’ den
Fe get back in de fryin’-pan again.
Ole Buccra Dabis, libing easy life,
One night get mad an’ kill himself an’ wife;
Den we hear t’ings we neber be’n know yet,
De b’uccra man was ears an’ han’s in debt.
Miss Laura lean back in her rockin’-chair
So sweet dat we might jes’ t’ink she no care
‘Bout naught; yet some say dat ‘cos she caan’ get
Mas’ Charley fe him husban’ she deh fret.
Dat’s how life ‘tan’,[8] me chiI’; dere is somet’ing
Deep down in we dat you can neber bring
People, howeber wise, fe understan’:
Caan’ feel man heart same how you feel dem han’.
Fe lub, me chil’, lub wha’ you natur’ hate![9] —
You’ll live in misery, prayin’ hard fe fait’,
Which won’t come eben ef you ‘crub you’ knees
In fifty quart o’ corn an’ lady-peas.[10]
Fe hate a t’ing you whole min’ come in one:
You try fe keep it[11] back much as you can,
But” flesh caan’ conquer ‘perit” Bible say,
You hab fe give it up,[12] an’ den ‘top pray.
Me carry hell, me chit’, in a me ches’,
Me laugh, me cry, me couldn’ get no res’ ;
Eat all de same an’ neber fatter less[13]
Dan now, aldough me min’ was so distress’.
An’ though a feel it hard, a wouldn’ fret;
Me min’ don’t mek so, but it eber set
Fe conquer, yet it couldn’ wash away
De t’oughts dem dat come ‘tronger ebery day.
You ‘stan’,[14] me chil’? I caan’ explain it mo’ :
Life funny bad, so is de ways also;
For what we fink is right is often wrong,
We live in sorrow as we journey ‘long.
- Just as the sound of an anvil-the speaker was a blacksmith—makes me start and arouses disagreeable recollections, so does your question ↵
- Child ↵
- Scatter ↵
- It wasn't the attraction of the high wages ↵
- "Beggars can't be choosers." The reference is to dumplings made with too much water ↵
- This means that he (the speaker) was unhappy at home ↵
- Prov xv. 17; xvii. I. ↵
- Stands=is ↵
- If you try to make yourself love what your nature hates. This line is partly an exclamation, partly an interrogation ↵
- Black-eye peas ↵
- The hatred ↵
- Give up trying ↵
- Less fat ↵
- Do you understand? ↵