Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Nature Sonnet



Pa said it warn’t no trick to skate at all.
     When he was young he used to skate to beat
     The cars, and was nifty on his feet
As any boy on Lizzard, sort or tall;
Could do all sorts of stunts and never fall.
So he got out his turn-toe skates today
And went down to the crick to show the way
     To execute them pigeon wings and such
     He used to on skates to beat the Dutch.

Pa strapped his skates, and sort of stretched his neck,
     Then made a sweep to carry him afar;
His feet went up, and he came down a wreck.
     We took him home. That night he said to ma:
“Skatin’ ain’t what it uster be, by heck!”

Jan. 7, 1917



‘To beat the cars’ – to the skies, highly. Dialect Notes, Vol. V, Part I, 1918


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