LESSON 5. POEMS.

The Yorkshire version of the "See No Evil" phrase:
Hear all, see all, say nowt.
Eat all, drink all, pay nowt,
and thy ever dus owt for nowt,
All-us do it for thee-sen.
Translated: Hear everything, see everything, but say nothing.
Eat everything, drink everything, but pay nothing,
and if you ever do anything for nothing,
always do it for yourself.
There's niver nowt, but-what there's summat.
And when-there's summat, it's-offen nowt.
And them-that allus' thinks they're-summat,
'as-nearly allus-risen fray-nowt.
It's no-use sittin-an-waitin' for summat,
'Cos more-offen, it' nobbut' ends-wi'nowt.
An' come to-think on-it', these lines I've penned,
Are-myst-lee summat' abart-nowt
Translated:
There is never nothing, but there is always something.
And when there is something, it is often nothing.
And those that think they are something special,
have nearly always come from nothing.
It's of no use waiting for something,
because more often than not, it ends with nothing.
And if I think about it, these lines I have penned/written
are mostly something about nothing.
"It's not't cough tha't carries-thee-off, its'... coffin they carry thee off-in".
(It is not the cough that carries you off, it is the coffin they carry you off in)
"All I can leave thee, is what tha' makes a'thee-sen".
(All I can leave you, after I am dead, is what you make of yourself, in life.)
"If tha knows nowt, say nowt an-appen nob'dee 'll notice."
(If you know nothing, then say nothing, and maybe no-one will notice that you don't know anything)