Poem by William Barnes

Second Collection. The Poplars

If theäse day’s work an’ burnèn sky
’V’a-zent hwome you so tired as I,
Let’s zit an’ rest ’ithin the screen
O’ my wold bow’r upon the green;
Where I do goo myself an’ let
The evenèn aiër cool my het,
When dew do wet the grasses bleädes,
A-quiv’rèn in the dusky sheädes.

There yonder poplar trees do plaÿ
Soft music, as their heads do swaÿ,
While wind, a-rustlèn soft or loud,
Do stream ageän their lofty sh’oud;
An’ seem to heal the ranklèn zore
My mind do meet wi’ out o’ door,
When I’ve a-bore, in downcast mood,
Zome evil where I look’d vor good.

O’ they two poplars that do rise
So high avore our naïghbours’ eyes,
A-zet by gramfer, hand by hand,
Wi’ grammer, in their bit o’ land;
The woone upon the western zide
Wer his, an’ woone wer grammer’s pride,
An’ since they died, we all do teäke
Mwore ceäre o’m vor the wold vo’k’s seäke.

An’ there, wi’ stems a-growèn tall
Avore the houses mossy wall,
The while the moon ha’ slowly past
The leafy window, they’ve a-cast
Their sheädes ’ithin the window peäne;
While childern have a-grown to men,
An’ then ageän ha’ left their beds,
To bear their childern’s heavy heads.

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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