Pawky – meaning drily or slyly humorous, according to Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary – is surely the right description of W. D. Cocker’s The Deluge? But let this mini epic speak for itself! It can also be found in The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry (EUP, 2005).

             THE DELUGE

The Lord took a staw at mankind,

A righteous an’ natural scunner;

They were neither to haud nor to bind,

They were frichtit nae mair wi’ his thun’er.

~

They had broken ilk edic’  an’ law,

They had pitten his saints to the sword,

They had worshipped fause idols o’ stane;

‘I will thole it nae mair,’ saith the Lord.

~

‘I am weary wi’ flytin’ at folk;

I will dicht them clean oot frae my sicht;

But Noah, douce man, I will spare,

For he ettles, puir chiel, to dae richt.’

~

So he cried unto Noah ae day,

When naebody else was aboot,

Sayin’: ‘Harken, my servant, to Me

An’ these, my commands, cairry oot:

~

‘A great muckle boat ye maun build,

An ark that can float heich an’ dry,

Wi room in’t for a’ ye ain folk

An’a hantle o’ cattle forby.

~

‘The tak’ ye the fowls o’ the air,

Even unto the big bubbly-jocks;

An’ tak’ ye the beasts o’ the field:

Whittrocks, an’ foumarts, an’ brocks.

~

‘Wale ye twa guid anes o’ each,

See that nae cratur rebels;

Dinna ye fash aboot fish;

They can look efter theirsels.

~

‘Herd them a’ safely aboard,

An ance the Blur Peter’s unfurled,

I’ll send doon a forty-day flood.

An de’il tak’ the rest o’ the world.’

(to be continued tomorrow)