Songs of Jamaica (1912)
The Biter Bit
[“Ole woman a swea’ fe eat calalu: calalu[1] a swea’ fe wuk him[2] gut.”-JAMAICA PROVERB.]
CORN an’ peas growin’ t’ick an’ fas’
Wid nice blade peepin’ t’rough de grass;
An’ ratta[3] a from dem hole a peep,
T’ink all de corn dem gwin’ go reap.
Ole woman sit by kitchen doo’
Is watchin’ calalu a grow,
An’ all de time a t’inking dat
She gwin’ go nyam dem when dem fat.[4]
But calalu, grow’n’ by de hut,
Is swearin’ too fe wuk him gut;
While she, like some, t’ink[5] all is right
When dey are in some corner tight.
Peas time come roun’[6] —de corn is lef;
An’ ratta now deh train himse’f
Upon de cornstalk dem a’ night
Fe when it fit to get him bite.[7]
De corn-piece lie do’n all in blue,[8]
An’ all de beard dem floatin’ too
Amongst de yellow grain so gay,[9]
Dat you would watch dem a whole day.
An’ ratta look at ebery one,
Swea’in’ dat dem not gwin’ lef none;[10]
But Quaco know a t’ing or two,
An’ swear say[11] dat dem won’t go so.
So him go get a little meal
An’ somet’ing good fe those dat steal,
An’ mix dem up an’ ‘pread dem out
For people possess fas’ fas’ mout’.[12]
Now ratta, comin’ from dem nes’,
See it an’ say “Dis food is bes’;”
Dem nyam an’ stop, an’ nyam again,
An’ soon lie do’n, rollin’ in pain.
- Spinach, but not the English kind ↵
- His = her ↵
- The rats ↵
- Juicy ↵
- Thinks: but it also means 'think', and so equally applies to the plural subject ↵
- The time for harvesting the peas arrives ↵
- And (every) rat now practises climbing the cornstalks at night, so that he may get his bite when the corn is ripe ↵
- This refers to the bluish leaf of the maize ↵
- Supply 'all this makes so pretty a picture' ↵
- They are not going to leave any ↵
- 'Say' is redundant: it is tacked closely to swear ↵
- For those who are too quick with their mouths ↵