Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/273

Rh ’Ithin the loose-bough’d ivy’s gloom, Or lofty lilac, vull in bloom, Or hazzle-wrides that gi’ed em room Below the zingèn blackbird.

Above our heads the rooks did vlee To reach their nested elem-tree, An’ splashèn vish did rise to catch The wheelèn gnots above the hatch; An’ there the miller went along, A-smilèn, up the sheädy drong, But yeet too deaf to hear the zong A-zung us by the blackbird.

An’ there the sh’illy-bubblèn brook Did leäve behind his rocky nook, To run drough meäds a-chill’d wi’ dew, Vrom hour to hour the whole night drough; But still his murmurs wer a-drown’d By vaïces that mid never sound Ageän together on that ground, Wi’ whislèns o’ the blackbird.

Jeäne, my maïd, I stood to you, &emsp;When you wer christen’d, small an’ light, Wi’ tiny eärms o’ red an’ blue, &emsp;A-hangèn in your robe o’ white. We brought ye to the hallow’d stwone, Vor Christ to teäke ye vor his own, When harvest work wer all a-done, An’ time brought round October zun— &emsp;The slantèn light o’ Fall.

An’ I can mind the wind wer rough, &emsp;An’ gather’d clouds, but brought noo storms,