Poem by William Barnes

First Collection. Sundry Pieces. The Rwose that Deck’d her Breast

Poor Jenny wer her Robert’s bride
Two happy years, an’ then he died;
An’ zoo the wold vo’k meäde her come,
Vorseäken, to her maïden hwome.
But Jenny’s merry tongue wer dum’;
 An’ round her comely neck she wore
 A murnèn kerchif, where avore
  The rwose did deck her breast.

She walk’d alwone, wi’ eye-balls wet,
To zee the flow’rs that she’d a-zet;
The lilies, white’s her maïden frocks,
The spike, to put ’ithin her box,
Wi’ columbines an’ hollyhocks;
 The jilliflow’r an’ noddèn pink,
 An’ rwose that touch’d her soul to think
  Ov woone that deck’d her breast.

Vor at her weddèn, just avore
Her maïden hand had yet a-wore
A wife’s goold ring, wi’ hangèn head
She walk’d along thik flower-bed,
Where stocks did grow, a-staïned wi’ red,
 An’ meärygoolds did skirt the walk,
 An’ gather’d vrom the rwose’s stalk
  A bud to deck her breast.

An’ then her cheak, wi’ youthvul blood
Wer bloomèn as the rwoses bud;
But now, as she wi’ grief do pine,
’Tis peäle’s the milk-white jessamine.
But Robert have a-left behine
 A little beäby wi’ his feäce,
 To smile, an’ nessle in the pleäce
  Where the rwose did deck her breast.

1. Second Collection. The Linden on the Lawn
2. Second Collection. When Birds be Still
3. First Collection. Summer. Week’s End in Zummer, in the Wold Vo’k’s Time
4. Second Collection. The Lydlinch Bells
5. Third Collection. The Wheel Routs

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