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Songs of the Ridings

by F. W. Moorman

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Mary Mecca

Mary Mecca,1 Mary Mecca,
    I’m fain to see thee here,
A Devon lass to fill my glass
    O’ home-brewed Yorkshire beer.
I awlus said that foreigners
    Sud niver mel on me;
But sike a viewly face as thine
    I’d travel far to see.

Mary Mecca, Mary Mecca,
    I’m sad to see thee here,
Wheer t’ wind blaws hask2 frae Norway
    I’ t’ spring-time o’ the year.
I’d liever finnd thee sittin’,
    Wi’ a bowl o’ cruds an’ cream,
Wheer t’ foxglove bells ring through the dells,
    Anent a Dartmoor stream.

Mary Mecca, Mary Mecca,
    The way thou snods thy hair,
It maks my heart go dancin’
    Like winnlestraws3 i’ t’ air.
One neet I heard thee singin’,
    As I cam home frae toon;
’Twas sweet as curlews makkin’ love
    Agean a risin’ moon.

Mary Mecca, Mary Mecca,
    I dream o’ thy gray een;
I think on all I’ve wasted,
    An’ what I might hae been.
I’m nowt but muck off t’ midden,
    So all I axe is this:
Just blaw the froth from off my yal4;
    ’Twill seem most like a kiss.

Notes

1 Metcalfe.

2 Keenly.

3 Whisps of grass or straw.

4 Ale.

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