Wee Malkies Poem
John A Breslin
Can anyone post in the lines to the poem: "The Wee Malkies" ?
It starts:
Mrs. what'll ye do if the Wee Malkies come?
...
john
Alan Lothian
j...@annan.ee.ed.ac.uk (John A Breslin) wrote on 18 Mar 1998:
>
> Can anyone post in the lines to the poem: "The Wee Malkies" ?
I can't post them (my house is in utter chaos
due to rewiring and walls being knocked down)
so I can't lay my hands on any books. But even
if I could, I shouldn't.
The poem is by Tom Leonard, first published
in the mid-60s when Tom was arguably the best
(and arguably the only -- depends on definition of
the G-word) Glaswegian poet. That's the book I can't lay
my hands on. It is, of course, copyright. Poets are
skint enough as it is, without squirting their
work all over the Net without so much as a
by-your-leave. It's one of his best poems, too,
that and "A Priest Got On At Merkland Street".
Anybody else around here who knew Tom
back in those days? I can't claim to have
been a friend, but I was certainly an acquaintance.
Anyway, John:
if you are still stuck in a week or so, drop
me an email and I will quote it all to you. That would be
helping a seeker after truth, not usurping Mr Leonard's
much-needed royalties.
Alan Lothian
"The past resembles the future as water
resembles water": Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)
John Muncie
In article <6eoijp$d...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk>, John A Breslin
<j...@annan.ee.ed.ac.uk> writes
>
> Can anyone post in the lines to the poem: "The Wee Malkies" ?
>
>
Whit'll ye dae when the wee malkies come,
if they dreep doon affy the wash-hoose dyke
an' pit the hems oan the sterrheid light,
an' play keepie-up oan the clean close-wa'
an' blooter yir windae in wi' the ba',
missis, whit'll ye dae?
Whit'll ye dae when the wee malkies come,
if they chap yir door an' choke the drain,
an' caw the feet frae yir sapsy wean,
an' tummle thur wulkies through yir sheets,
an' tim thur ashes oot in the street,
missis, whit'll ye dae?
Whit'll ye dae when the wee malkies come,
if they chuck their screwtaps doon the pan,
an' stick the heid oan the sanit'ry man;
when ye hear thum come shauchlin' doon yir loaby,
chantin', "Wee Malkies! The gemme's... a bogey!"
haw, missis, whit'll ye dae?
--
John Muncie EMail jo...@lochaber.demon.co.uk
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