Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/96

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POEMS OF RURAL LIFE.

An’ tothers, dancèn to the soun’,
Went in an’ out, an’ droo an’ roun’,
An’ kick’d, an’ beät the tuèn down,
  A-laughèn, maïd an’ man.

An’ then a maïd, all up tip-tooe,
Vell down; an’ woone o’m wi’ his shoe
Slit down her pocket-hole in two,
  Vrom top a-most to bottom.
An’ when they had a-danc’d enough,
They got a-plaÿèn blindman’s buff,
An’ sard the maïdens pretty rough,
  When woonce they had a-got em.

An’ zome did drink, an’ laugh, an’ roar,
An’ lots o’ teäles they had in store,
O’ things that happen’d years avore
  To them, or vo’k they know’d.
An’ zome did joke, an’ zome did zing,
An’ meäke the girt wold kitchen ring;
Till uncle’s cock, wi’ flappèn wing,
  Stratch’d out his neck an’ crow’d.

A ZONG OV HARVEST HWOME.

The ground is clear. There’s nar a ear
 O’ stannèn corn a-left out now,
Vor win’ to blow or raïn to drow;
 ’Tis all up seäfe in barn or mow.
 Here’s health to them that plough’d an’ zow’d;
 Here’s health to them that reap’d an’ mow’d,
 An’ them that had to pitch an’ lwoad,
 Or tip the rick at Harvest Hwome.
The happy zight,—the merry night,
The men’s delight,—the Harvest Hwome.