Verdant Works

Silently echoing thro' Verdant Works
O'er granite and flint cassies
Hooves clatterin' - cairtwheels rattlin'
As lads eyeup the lassies
In the eighteen-hundreds
Workers wrought a twelve-hoor shift
And wove textile heritage
Wi' toil and thrift

Stowers hookin' graded bales
(Stalwart - pleasin')
Batchers bale-splitting
Spreader-feeders teasin'
Breaker hands breakin'-in
Thro' oil and water mix
Backs brackin' - chests hackin'
On shifts six tae six

Thick stour
Deafenin' sound
O' working machinery
All around
Caird hands preparing fibre
Signal 'time-on-the-clock' mute
Graftin' stretchin' - strengthenin'
Coarse raw jute

Drawing hands crimpin'
Tae final Low Mill phase
Seldom (if ever)
Gainin' High Mill praise
Cans o' sliver - feedin' spinners
Puttin' up an end
Orra hands in the frame path
Are aye the spinners friend

Bobbins spinnin' - ever rinnin'
Reels for the factory flair
Looms clackin' carpet backin'
Wi' skill and care
Sturdy jute sackin'
Stands the test
And Prairie Schooner* sails
Are on shipment tae the West

Shifters shiftin' bobbins
Winders spoolin' on-an-aff
Workin' thro' gaslicht
Wi' little time tae chaff
Half-timers frae Big Works schules
Work at steady pace
Each abidin' by the rules
(Bobbins in their place)

Thro' Low Mill and High Mill
Present and past
Textile heritage
Woven to last
Is preserved in museum
In the city - Dundee
A tribute to the Jute Mill Age
And times that used to be

*covered waggons