Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/306

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POEMS OF RURAL LIFE.

When I do rest, at evenèn-fall,
Bezide the he’th ov Ivy Hall.

There leafy stems do clim’ around
 The mossy stwonèn eaves;
An’ there be window-zides a-bound
 Wi’ quiv’rfen ivy-leaves.
But though the sky is dim ’ithout,
An’ feäces mid be grim ’ithout,
Still I ha’ smiles when I do call,
At evenèn-tide, at Ivy Hall.

FALSE FRIENDS-LIKE.

When I wer still a bwoy, an’ mother’s pride,
A bigger bwoy spoke up to me so kind-like,
“If you do like, I’ll treat ye wi’ a ride
In theäse wheel-barrow here.” Zoo I wer blind-like
To what he had a-workèn in his mind-like,
An’ mounted vor a passenger inside;
An’ comèn to a puddle, perty wide,
He tipp’d me in, a-grinnèn back behind-like.
Zoo when a man do come to me so thick-like,
An’ sheäke my hand, where woonce he pass’d me by,
An’ tell me he would do me this or that,
I can’t help thinkèn o’ the big bwoy’s trick-like.
An’ then, vor all I can but wag my hat
An’ thank en, I do veel a little shy.

THE BACHELOR.

No! I don’t begrudge en his life,
 Nor his goold, nor his housen, nor lands;
Teäke all o’t, an’ gi’e me my wife,

 A wife’s be the cheapest ov hands.