1338 Bewdy  (La Bbellezza)
Translated by Peter Nicholas Dale
 
Wodda great gift frum God bewdy really is!
It orda be c’nsidered bedder’n coin fa the fact
Thad all the welth in the wirld won’ getcha that,
But with it, with bewdy, ya c’n acquire riches.
 
A church, a cow, an unmarried woman, ain’ sort
Out if they’re ugly, an peeple look down on’em.
An God himself, who’s a founten a wisdumb,
When he chose a muther, wannèd ta pick a good sort.

Bewdy never fin’s a shut door, unlike the ugly or staid.
Ev’rywun makes sheep’s eyes at a sort, an tuns
Only see wot’s rong after excuses a’ been made.
 
Just look at kittens, dear frien’, they’re apposite.
The finest are raised with care. An the ugly wuns?
The ugly wuns are thrown oud on’a the rubbish tip.
 
 9/2/2001
The sonnet is translated into "Strine", the dialect spoken in Australia down to the 1960s.