Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win
Sun Tzu
The Art of War


Ootside the baths we shuffled oor feet,
freezin fog happit ower the Horrals,
the pitheid lik an L. S. Lowry pentin,
else, some auld black an white Victorian photie.
Mairch; snell, cranreuch, bitin cauld,
haunds thrust deeply intae poackets,
bunnets pud doun ower oor lugs,
we waitit.
Forty or fifty men, piece bags slung,
towels rowed up, unner wir oxters,
braith expelled in cloods;
stirks in a slauchterhoose pen.
Then, the union guy appeared,
an stuid oan the wa, forenenst the canteen.
He tellt us fair an square the die wis cast,
the Yorkshire boys aareadies aa wir oot,
an syne the feck o us wid dae the same.
Some muttert aiths ablow their braith,
ithers stared at naethin.
The aulder heids amang thaim bowcht a bit,
theyd bin here afore; kent jist whit wis comin.
Across the caur-park twa-three craws
wir pickin at an empty paper poack.
Some  young yins lauched an joked
their een wid suin be opened.
Ah spake oot, an said it wid be folly,
but naebody peyed me ony mind.
An thons hou it stairts,
thons hou it ayeweys stairts.