Alba and Albania
Author: Philip Robinson
Date: 1999
Source: Ullans: The Magazine for Ulster-Scots, Nummer 7 Wunter 1999
Philip Robinson
Lake gress, a boady’s while, that’s a’
Or lake a flure, nae last ava
A flooch o wun an al’s awa
As shane as ruz
(James Fenton: “Thonner an Thon”)
Boneybefore’s frae whaur A’m cum,
Ma hamely hairth wi rid breek lum.
Nae mynn A hae o fechtin drum,
Agin tha breesht.
Na, hairts wuz larnt tae saftly thrum,
An houl oor wheesht.
Oul-farrant nichts an stane-waa ruins,
Freats ma een catched mair nor aince.
Luxemburg! Boys! A fistlin newance,
In waffs o soon.
Duntit breeshts wi juke-bax boomins.
Braw nichts in toun.
Willicks hoaked frae roak an wrak.
Marlies, cheesers an fairm-hoose crack.
Mair lake The Waltons nor a boadie cud tak.
But unco shune, hae.
Slonks an dykes lept aye wud brak,
Winkle-picker’s tae.
“Kang an Kintra” no lang in thocht.
In pews, a Kang abane wuz socht.
Elvis an Country recairts bocht,
Nae flegs aboot.
Bricht kiltie ban? Na, no owre ocht.
Tha heicht, A doot.
Frae keeks syne catched o ithers warls,
No yin bit oors, nae pritta farls.
But fechtin heidyins, reekin barls,
As yins sees iz.
Warl ill divid whaur war aye birls,
Frae poortith riz.
Wee Fergies in a lang crouse raa,
Vintage trayctors pit on a dra,
Puein wi horses gien iz mair gra,
Fur days lang syne.
Kosovo trayctors tha yin nicht A sa,
Oul-tyme in line.
Ticht wee Serbs, tha peep-o-day clan.
Mooslim dissenters, black-moothed an thran.
Papish Croatians bigged thair ain laun,
“Thirteen an Echtie-Nine”.
Weemin girnin owre deid guidman,
Wrangs aye in mynn.
Waas a-tummlin gart turn ilk heid
Weans flittin, in scunners, an brithers deid
Grannie hapt in a barra, alang wi tha breid
Nae catter ava.
Da, stour tae stour. Nae succeedin leid?
Haud on tae Allah.
O God o Balkans, by whase haun,
Is mate gien til sic thrangs o thran?
Thrie warls, thrie leids, in yin wee lann,
Thrie gods or Yin?
Wha cud crusade agin whilk ban’,
Whan on tha rin?
“Bal’albana’s whaur A cum fae”,
Tha very thing A heerd him say,
This ethnic haun o Larne yin day,
(Whaur A wuz boarn).
Blinnin tha slonks on ilka brae.
Hairt o Alban coarn.
A thocht A seen him yinst agane,
Thon wee auld man frae bak abane,
Hirplin Kosovo braes his lane,
Tha gate tae bield.
Hiein frae his hairth an hame,
Wi heirskip skailed.
Yit Boneybefore’s whaur A cum frae,
Tha spairk o aa tha thochts A hae.
Whan aa bes owre, wha wudnae spae,
Micht’s aye tha thing.
Sae historie taks nae tent theday,
O a weefella’s spring.
Next: The Auld Sinner
Previous: Bushside Letter
Contents: Ullans: The Magazine for Ulster-Scots, Nummer 7 Wunter 1999
