Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/225

Rh We be all lik’ a zull’s idle sheäre out, An’ shall rust out, unless we do wear out, &emsp;Lik’ do-nothèn, rue-nothèn, &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Dead alive dumps.

As vor me, why my life idden bound &emsp;To my own heart alwone, among men; &emsp;I do live in myzelf, an’ ageän In the lives o’ my childern all round: I do live wi’ my bwoy in his plaÿ, &emsp;An’ ageän wi’ my maïd in her zongs; An’ my heart is a-stirr’d wi’ their jaÿ, &emsp;An’ would burn at the zight o’ their wrongs. I ha’ nine lives, an’ zoo if a half O’m do cry, why the rest o’m mid laugh &emsp;All so plaÿvully, jaÿvully, &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;Happy wi’ hope.

Tother night I come hwome a long road, &emsp;When the weather did sting an’ did vreeze; An’ the snow—vor the day had a-snow’d— &emsp;Wer avroze on the boughs o’ the trees; An’ my tooes an’ my vingers wer num’, &emsp;An’ my veet wer so lumpy as logs, An’ my ears wer so red’s a cock’s cwom’; &emsp;An’ my nose wer so cwold as a dog’s; But so soon’s I got hwome I vorgot Where my limbs wer a-cwold or wer hot, &emsp;When wi’ loud cries an’ proud cries &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;They coll’d me so cwold.

Vor the vu’st that I happen’d to meet &emsp;Come to pull my girtcwoat vrom my eärm, &emsp;An’ another did rub my feäce warm, An’ another hot-slipper’d my veet; While their mother did cast on a stick, &emsp;Vor to keep the red vier alive;