Weer yer poppy wae pride - Ullans article

Tha Lord knows doon tha years oor ain wee Province haes loast mair nir its shair o its syns an dochters tae gie is oor freedom tae leeve tha wye wae dae tha dey. Ulster fowk wur niver behin tha dure whun tha war clouds come in amang is. Conscription wus niver a wurd that wus h’ard roon aboot, for oor yung aa volunteered tae fecht for tha country they wur boarn in, thaur ain hamelan. Noo tha poppy an tha weerin it whiles kan caase rucshions for it is sed bae some tae maak o war. Naethin cud bae mair wrang for tha rid poppy is naethin mair nir a wee emblem tae tak oor kep aff in memory tae tha mony wha frae aa clesses an creeds, geen thaur health,strength, even thaur lives that wae micht leeve in a free country. Awa baak in tha earlie twenties a wheen o French war widows brocht ower poppies they had made, tae Earl Haig tha a big heid British Commander in Chief, an toul him tha it micht bae a gran wye tae maak siller tae help them wha had bane lamed fechtin for thaur country.

Aff coorse tha poopy wus thocht on as wye o minin bae a Canadian wha focht in tha First Wurl War he wus Colonel John McCrae. Efter tha second battle o Ypres in 1915 he scrieved in a page oot o his dispatch book tha noo famous an hairt rend wurds.

In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place, and in the sky

The larks still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

Colonel McCrae dee’d on ective duty in Mie 1918 an afore he dee’d he wus supposed tae hae sed, “Tell them this, if ye break the faith with us who die we shall not sleep.” Sae am mair nir proud tae weer mae wee poppy in offence tae naeboady, but jest tae mine aa them wha fell in defence o what tha knoad wus richt. Sae dinnae forget tae buy yer wee rid flooer an weer it wae pride. Lest we Forget.

Tha Poocher November 2012.