Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/375

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many long years had a-run, &emsp;The while I wer a-gone vrom the pleäce, I come back to the vields, where the zun &emsp;Ov her childhood did show me her feäce. There her father, years wolder, did stoop. &emsp;An’ her brother, wer now a-grow’d staïd, An’ the apple tree lower did droop. &emsp;Out in the orcha’d where we had a-plaÿ’d, There wer zome things a-seemèn the seäme, &emsp;But Meäry’s a-married awaÿ.

There wer two little childern a-zent, &emsp;Wi’ a message to me, oh! so feaïr As the mother that they did zoo ment, &emsp;When in childhood she plaÿ’d wi’ me there. Zoo they twold me that if I would come &emsp;Down to Coomb, I should zee a wold friend, Vor a plaÿmeäte o’ mine wer at hwome, &emsp;An’ would stay till another week’s end. At the dear pworchfed door, could I dare &emsp;To zee Meäry a-married awaÿ!

On the flower-not, now all a-trod &emsp;Stwony hard, the green grass wer a-spread, An’ the long-slighted woodbine did nod &emsp;Vrom the wall, wi’ a loose-hangèn head. An’ the martin’s clay nest wer a-hung &emsp;Up below the brown oves, in the dry, An’ the rooks had a-rock’d broods o’ young &emsp;On the elems below the Maÿ sky; But the bud on the bed, coulden bide, &emsp;Wi’ young Meäry a-married awaÿ.