Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/240

224 Then all your mossy paths below The trees, wi’ leaves a-vallèn slow, Like zinkèn fleäkes o’ yollow snow, &emsp;O leänèn lawns ov Allen. &emsp;&emsp;Would be mwore teäkèn where they straÿ’d &emsp;&emsp;The lovely maïd ov Elwell Meäd.

I do think, as I do tread Theäse path, wi’ elems overhead, A-climèn slowly up vrom Bridge, By easy steps, to Broadwoak Ridge, That all theäse roads that we do bruise Wi’ hosses’ shoes, or heavy lwoads; An’ hedges’ bands, where trees in row Do rise an’ grow aroun’ the lands, Be works that we’ve a-vound a-wrought By our vorefathers’ ceäre an’ thought.

They clear’d the groun’ vor grass to teäke The pleäce that bore the bremble breäke, An’ draïn’d the fen, where water spread, A-lyèn dead, a heäne to men; An’ built the mill, where still the wheel Do grind our meal, below the hill; An’ turn’d the bridge, wi’ arch a-spread, Below a road, vor us to tread.

They vound a pleäce, where we mid seek The gifts o’ greäce vrom week to week; An’ built wi’ stwone, upon the hill, A tow’r we still do call our own; With bells to use, an’ meäke rejaïce, Wi’ giant vaïce at our good news: