Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/27

Rh An’ sparrows, clust’rèn roun’ the bough, Mid chatter to the men at plough,— The blackbird, whisslèn in among The boughs, do zing the gaÿest zong.

Vor we do hear the blackbird zing His sweetest ditties in the spring, When nippèn win’s noo mwore do blow Vrom northern skies, wi’ sleet or snow, But drēve light doust along between The leäne-zide hedges, thick an’ green; An’ zoo the blackbird in among The boughs do zing the gaÿest zong.

’Tis blithe, wi’ newly-open’d eyes. To zee the mornèn’s ruddy skies; Or, out a-haulèn frith or lops Vrom new-plēsh’d hedge or new-vell’d copse. To rest at noon in primrwose beds Below the white-bark’d woak-trees’ heads; But there’s noo time, the whole däy long, Lik’ evenèn wi’ the blackbird’s zong.

Vor when my work is all a-done Avore the zettèn o’ the zun. Then blushèn Jeäne do walk along The hedge to meet me in the drong. An’ stay till all is dim an’ dark Bezides the ashen tree’s white bark; An’ all bezides the blackbird’s shrill An’ runnèn evenèn-whissle’s still.

An’ there in bwoyhood I did rove Wi’ pryèn eyes along the drove To vind the nest the blackbird meäde O’ grass-stalks in the high bough’s sheäde;