Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/394

378 Noo crowd’s a-passèn to and fro, Upon the bridge’s high-sprung bow: An’ vew but I do seek the door Ov Ellen Dare o’ Lindenore.

Vor there the town, wi’ zun-bright walls, &emsp;Do sheen vur off, by hills o’ grey, An’ town-vo’k ha’ but seldom calls &emsp;O’ business there, from day to day: But Ellen didden leäve her ruf To be admir’d, an’ that’s enough— Vor I’ve a-vound ’ithin her door, Feäir Ellen Dare o’ Lindenore.

theäse elems’ crooked boughs, A’most too thin to sheäde the cows, Did slowly swing above the grass As winds o’ Spring did softly pass, An’ zunlight show’d the shiftèn sheäde, While youthful me’th wi’ laughter loud, Did twist his lim’s among the crowd Down there below; up there above Wer bright-ey’d me’th below the tree.

Down there the merry vo’k did vill The stwonèn doorway, now so still; An’ zome did joke, wi’ ceäsement wide, Wi’ other vo’k a-stood outside, Wi’ words that head by head did heed. Below blue sky an’ blue-smok’d tun, ’Twer jaÿ to zee an’ hear their fun, But sweeter jaÿ up here above Wi’ bright-ey’d me’th below the tree.