We baint be Scottish roun yer, so wos wi’ all this Rabbie Burns? We got our our own poet that wrote in dialect: William Barnes and to celebrate one of the great sons of Dorset the Woodman in South Street, Bridport is holding a Barnes Night on Thursday 23rd of February 2023 starting at 7:30pm.
Billed as “A gurt, lisome, evemen of poetry, stories and song to celebrate the work of William Barnes and all things Dorset. Featuring an address to the Dorset Knob and a Dorset quiz”
Read an Excerpt from “A Bit o’ Sly Coorten”
JOHN
He took ye roun’ the middle at the stile,
An’ kiss’d ye twice ‘ithin the ha’f a mile.FANNY
Ees, at the stile, because I shoulden vall,
He took me hold to help me down, that’s all;
An’ I can’t zee what very mighty harm
He could ha’ done a-lenden me his eärm.
An’ as vor kissen o’ me, if he did,
I didden ax en to, nor zay he mid:
An’ if he kiss’d me dree times, or a dozen,
What harm wer it? Why idden he my cousin?
An’ I can’t zee, then, what there is amiss
In cousin Jem’s jist gi’en me a kiss.
