Translation: Cuss Cuss

Original: Cuss Cuss
By: Louise Bennett

Gwan gal yuh fava teggereg,
Ah wey yuh gwine goh do?
Yuh an yuh boogooyagga fren
Dem tink me fraid o' yuh?

Goh wey, yuh fava heng-pon-nail,
Is me yuh want fe trace?
Me is jus de one fi teck me han
An leggo pon yuh face.

Fe me han no jine chu'ch an me naw
Pay licen fe me mout',
Me wi tell yuh bout yuh--seh yah
Gal noh badda get me out.

Me noh know is wat kine o' chu'ch
Fe yuh mout' coulda jine,
Yuh lip dem heng dung lacka wen
Mule kean meck up him mine.

Gwan, me an yuh noh combolo,
Yuh foot shapeless an lang
Like smaddy stan far fling dem awn
An mack dem heng awn wrang.

Fe yuh foot fava capital K,
Koo pon yuh two nose-hole!
Dem dis big an open out like
Miss Tane outsize fish bowl.

Goh wey, yuh kean bwile sof egg
But still yuh want get ring,
Noh man na gwine fe married yuh
Wen yuh kean do a ting.

Is grudge yuh grudgeful, me kean cook
But me ben goh dah good school,
Me got intelligency yuh
Illiterated fool!

Me sorry fe de man yuh get
De po'ting hooden nyam
When you ackebus him salt-fish
An bwilivous him yam.

Translation:

Get away from here! you look like a vagabond!
What do you think you're going to do?
You and your ragamuffin friends
assume I'm afraid of you?

Get out of here! You resemble clothes on a stick.
'Tis me you really trying to disgrace?
I'm just the one to use my hand
and let it fly into your face.

My hands aren't members of any congregation,
and I pay no license to communicate.
I will tell you about your -- look here...
You better not get me irrate.

I don't know which church
your mouth could have joined,
your lips hang off your face
like a mule that can't make up his mind.

Go away, you and I aren't friends!
Your legs are shapeless and long
as if someone threw them from a distance
and attached them quite wrong!

Your feet look like a capital K,
and just look at those nose holes!
they are big and wide,
just like Miss Tane's oversized fish bowl.

Get out of here! You can't even boil an egg
and yet you want a wedding ring?!
No man will want to marry you
When you can't do a thing!

You’re too envious. I can't cook
but I definitely go to a good school.
I have high intelligence
you illiterated fool!!

I'm so sorry for the man you get.
The poor soul would never eat a thing
when you 'obliterate' his rice,
and 'illiterate' his chicken wing.

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi, I like this post and I'm going to reblog it at http://sherjei.wordpress.com/

I will attach a link to your blog in my post so everyone will know who gets the credit for this lovely translation.
Thanks.
1:04 pm
Rae said…
:) Sure
1:43 pm
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