Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Shakepeare's Sonnet 29 translated into the Negro dialect by Maxwell R. Reddick

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29—When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

(translated into the Negro dialect by Maxwell Reddick)

Wheneber meh luck done run plumb out and folks is looking at me crazy,

I just goes somewheh and sits by mehself thankin’ and stankin’

Even dey gud Lawd above ain’t even payin’ me no mind,

I just shakes meh head and wundeah how I gots meh-self in this heah predicament,

Sometimes I just wishes I be somebody else,

Somebody dat ebery-body lubs and that has friends an’ such,

I wishes dat I has some kind ah talent, some-ting,

Dem tings I likes the most, I hab the bery least of;

And sometimes I almost just hates meh-self,

But den I thanks ‘bout you, baby, an’ I feels betta’

Just lak a bird sanging when dey sun comes up in dey morning

Sanging so loud dat it can be heard to high hea-ben;

An’ baby wit’ dey good lub you gives me, I is rich

An’ as long as you heah wit me, I wouldn’t eben change places wit a king.

[Original sonnet]

8 comments:

Citizen Ojo said...

Thank you for such an educational and enlightening post...ha ha ha!

Anna Renee said...

You a bad man! LOL! Actually, I most prefer the beauty of the sonnet in that most expressive of all the languages, the neegro dialect! Ah cud feel it mo' bettah dat a way!

Asabagna said...

Very funny! Point well made!

Kim said...

Speaking of this Negro Dialect..should I be mad at the black people who say I "talk like a white girl?"

Eddie said...

LOL! This is one of my fave Sonnets. Actually, Shakespeare is a dialect as well.

md20737 said...

Somebody is going to get you for this one lol

Monroe Anderson said...

Maxwell: Ah s'pose you done done really the colored dialect. Uncle Remus talked to the black birds dat way.

Vérité Parlant said...

Zora Neale Hurston and Paul Laurence Dunbar would applaud you. And I do as well b/c you're a brave, crazy man. LOL. That was wonderful!

There's talk like a pirate day. Will there be a talk in Negro Dialect day? Probably not since somebody would eventually have to slap a melanin challenged individual for trying to play along.

Where are you, btw? Hope you're on vacation and doing well.

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