Dead Broke
Dead Broke
Original Text
Source Text: James Anderson, Sawney's Letters and Cariboo Rhymes (Toronto: W. S. Johnson, 1895): 23. Internet Archive
1Dead broke! dead broke!--aft said in joke,
2Sae truth is sometimes spoken;
4'Tis onything but jokin'.
6Admittin' wind an' weather,
7Like freends that stood--whan he was guid--
8But no a' gang thegither.
9Dead broke! dead broke! words eas'ly spoke,
10But ah! to feel their meanin';
11Without a penny in ye're pouch,
12Or yet a freendly leanin';
13With out a credit at a store,
14But wi' an empty larder!
16Can life be muckle harder?
19But wi' a will, determid'd still,
21An' should it ever be oure lot
22To meet wi fortune's smile,
24Let's help him o'er the stile.
Notes
3] gree: degree; (low) position. Back to Line
5] claes: clothes. girnin': painful, ill-suiting. Back to Line
15] nane to hire: no one hiring. Back to Line
17] gae sair stoke: very sore blow. Back to Line
18] unco: misery. thole: endure. Back to Line
20] warstle: wrestle; struggle. Back to Line
23] chiel: young fellow. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1868
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form