Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/76

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POEMS OF RURAL LIFE.

Zoo maïd an’ woman, bwoy an’ man,
Went off, while zunzet aïr did fan
Their merry zunburnt feäzen; zome
Down leäne, an’ zome drough parrocks hwome.

Ah! who can tell, that ha’nt a-vound,
The sweets o’ week’s-end comèn round!
When Zadurday do bring woone’s mind
Sweet thoughts o’ Zunday clwose behind;
The day that’s all our own to spend
Wi’ God an’ wi’ an e’thly friend.
The worold’s girt vo’k, wi’ the best
O’ wordly goods mid be a-blest;
But Zunday is the poor man’s peärt,
To seäve his soul an’ cheer his heart

THE MEAD A-MOW’D.

When sheädes do vail into ev’ry hollow,
 An’ reach vrom trees half athirt the groun’;
An’ banks an’ walls be a-lookèn yollow,
 That be a-turn’d to the zun gwaïn down;
    Drough haÿ in cock, O,
    We all do vlock, O,
 Along our road vrom the meäd a-mow’d.

An’ when the last swaÿèn lwoad’s a-started
 Up hill so slow to the lofty rick,
Then we so weary but merry-hearted,
 Do shoulder each ō’s a reäke an’ pick,
    Wi’ empty flagon,
    Behind the waggon,
 To teäke our road vrom the meäd a-mow’d.

When church is out, an’ we all so slowly

 About the knap be a-spreadèn wide.