Poem by William Barnes

First Collection. Summer. Uncle an’ Aunt

How happy uncle us’d to be
O’ zummer time, when aunt an’ he
O’ Zunday evenèns, eärm in eärm,
Did walk about their tiny farm,
While birds did zing an’ gnats did zwarm,
Drough grass a’most above their knees,
An’ roun’ by hedges an’ by trees
 Wi’ leafy boughs a-swaÿèn.

His hat wer broad, his cwoat wer brown,
Wi’ two long flaps a-hangèn down;
An’ vrom his knee went down a blue
Knit stockèn to his buckled shoe;
An’ aunt did pull her gown-taïl drough
Her pocket-hole, to keep en neat,
As she mid walk, or teäke a seat
 By leafy boughs a-zwaÿèn.

An’ vu’st they’d goo to zee their lots
O’ pot-eärbs in the geärden plots;
An’ he, i’-may-be, by the hatch,
Would zee aunt’s vowls upon a patch
O’ zeeds, an’ vow if he could catch
Em wi’ his gun, they shoudden vlee
Noo mwore into their roostèn tree,
 Wi’ leafy boughs a-swaÿèn.

An’ then vrom geärden they did pass
Drough orcha’d out to zee the grass,
An’ if the apple-blooth, so white,
Mid be at all a-touch’d wi’ blight;
An’ uncle, happy at the zight,
Did guess what cider there mid be
In all the orcha’d, tree wi’ tree,
 Wi’ tutties all a-swaÿèn.

An’ then they stump’d along vrom there
A-vield, to zee the cows an’ meäre;
An’ she, when uncle come in zight,
Look’d up, an’ prick’d her ears upright,
An’ whicker’d out wi’ all her might;
An’ he, a-chucklèn, went to zee
The cows below the sheädy tree,
 Wi’ leafy boughs a-swaÿen.

An’ last ov all, they went to know
How vast the grass in meäd did grow
An’ then aunt zaid ’twer time to goo
In hwome,—a-holdèn up her shoe,
To show how wet he wer wi’ dew.
An’ zoo they toddled hwome to rest,
Lik’ doves a-vleèn to their nest
 In leafy boughs a-swaÿen.

1. Third Collection. Comen Hwome
2. Third Collection. Tweil
3. Second Collection. The Slantèn light o’ Fall
4. Second Collection. Day’s Work a-done
5. Second Collection. Light or Sheäde

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