Poem by William Barnes

Third Collection. The Rwose in the Dark

In zummer, leäte at evenèn tide,
 I zot to spend a moonless hour
’Ithin the window, wi’ the zide
 A-bound wi’ rwoses out in flow’r,
Bezide the bow’r, vorsook o’ birds,
An’ listen’d to my true-love’s words.

A-risèn to her comely height,
 She push’d the swingèn ceäsement round;
And I could hear, beyond my zight,
 The win’-blow’d beech-tree softly sound,
On higher ground, a-swaÿèn slow,
On drough my happy hour below.

An’ tho’ the darkness then did hide
 The dewy rwose’s blushèn bloom,
He still did cast sweet air inside
 To Jeäne, a-chattèn in the room;
An’ though the gloom did hide her feäce,
Her words did bind me to the pleäce.

An’ there, while she, wi’ runnèn tongue,
 Did talk unzeen ’ithin the hall,
I thought her like the rwose that flung
 His sweetness vrom his darken’d ball,
’Ithout the wall, an’ sweet’s the zight
Ov her bright feäce by mornèn light.

1. First Collection. Summer. Week’s End in Zummer, in the Wold Vo’k’s Time
2. Second Collection. The Linden on the Lawn
3. Second Collection. When Birds be Still
4. Third Collection. Went vrom Hwome
5. Third Collection. Shaftesbury Feäir

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