Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect

Excerpt

THE SPRING.

When wintry weather's all a-done,

An' brooks do sparkle in the zun,

An' nâisy-buildèn rooks do vlee

Wi' sticks toward their elem tree;

When birds do zing, an' we can zee

Upon the boughs the buds o' spring,—

Then I'm as happy as a king,

A-vield wi' health an' zunsheen.

Vor then the cowslip's hangèn flow'r

A-wetted in the zunny show'r,

Do grow wi' vi'lets, sweet o' smell,

Bezide the wood-screen'd grægle's bell;

Where drushes' aggs, wi' sky-blue shell,

Do lie in mossy nest among

The thorns, while they do zing their zong

At evenèn in the zunsheen.

An' God do meäke his win' to blow

An' raïn to vall vor high an' low,

An' bid his mornèn zun to rise

Vor all alike, an' groun' an' skies

Ha' colors vor the poor man's eyes:

An' in our trials He is near,

To hear our mwoan an' zee our tear,

An' turn our clouds to zunsheen.

An' many times when I do vind

Things all goo wrong, an' vo'k unkind,

To zee the happy veedèn herds,

An' hear the zingèn o' the birds,

Do soothe my sorrow mwore than words;

Vor I do zee that 'tis our sin

Do meäke woone's soul so dark 'ithin,

When God would gi'e woone zunsheen.

THE WOODLANDS.

O spread ageän your leaves an' flow'rs,

Lwonesome woodlands! zunny woodlands!

Here underneath the dewy show'rs

O' warm-aïr'd spring-time, zunny woodlands!

As when, in drong or open ground,

Wi' happy bwoyish heart I vound

The twitt'rèn birds a-buildèn round

Your high-bough'd hedges, zunny woodlands.

You gie'd me life, you gie'd me jaÿ,

Lwonesome woodlands! zunny woodlands

You gie'd me health, as in my plaÿ

I rambled through ye, zunny woodlands!

You gie'd me freedom, vor to rove

In aïry meäd or sheädy grove;

You gie'd me smilèn Fannèy's love,

The best ov all o't, zunny woodlands!

My vu'st shrill skylark whiver'd high,

Lwonesome woodlands! zunny woodlands!

To zing below your deep-blue sky

An' white spring-clouds, O zunny woodlands!

An' boughs o' trees that woonce stood here,

Wer glossy green the happy year

That gie'd me woone I lov'd so dear,

An' now ha' lost, O zunny woodlands!

O let me rove ageän unspied,

Lwonesome woodlands! zunny woodlands!

Along your green-bough'd hedges' zide,

As then I rambled, zunny woodlands!

An' where the missèn trees woonce stood,

Or tongues woonce rung among the wood,

My memory shall meäke em good,

Though you've a-lost em, zunny woodlands!

LEADY-DAY, AN' RIDDEN HOUSE.

Aye, back at Leädy-Day, you know,

I come vrom Gullybrook to Stowe;

At Leädy-Day I took my pack

O' rottletraps, an' turn'd my back

Upon the weather-beäten door,

That had a-screen'd, so long avore,

The mwost that theäse zide o' the greäve,

I'd live to have, or die to seäve!

My childern, an' my vier-pleäce,

Where Molly wi' her cheerful feäce,

When I'd a-trod my wat'ry road

Vrom night-bedarken'd vields abrode,

Wi' nimble hands, at evenèn, blest

Wi' vire an' vood my hard-won rest;

The while the little woones did clim',

So sleek-skinn'd, up from lim' to lim',

Till, strugglèn hard an' clingèn tight,

They reach'd at last my feäce's height....