Poem by William Barnes

Third Collection. Oben Vields

Well, you mid keep the town an’ street,
Wi’ grassless stwones to beät your veet,
An’ zunless windows where your brows
Be never cooled by swaÿèn boughs;
An’ let me end, as I begun,
My days in oben aïr an’ zun,
Where zummer win’s a-blowèn sweet,
Wi’ blooth o’ trees as white’s a sheet;
Or swaÿèn boughs, a-bendèn low
Wi’ rip’nèn apples in a row,
An’ we a-risèn rathe do meet
The bright’nèn dawn wi’ dewy veet,
An’ leäve, at night, the vootless groves,
To rest ’ithin our thatchen oves.
An’ here our childern still do bruise
The deäisy buds wi’ tiny shoes,
As we did meet avore em, free
Vrom ceäre, in play below the tree.
An’ there in me’th their lively eyes
Do glissen to the zunny skies,
As aïr do blow, wi’ leäzy peäce
To cool, in sheäde, their burnèn feäce.
Where leaves o’ spreadèn docks do hide
The zawpit’s timber-lwoaded zide,
An’ trees do lie, wi’ scraggy limbs,
Among the deäisy’s crimson rims.
An’ they, so proud, wi’ eärms a-spread
To keep their balance good, do tread
Wi’ ceäreful steps o’ tiny zoles
The narrow zides o’ trees an’ poles.
An’ zoo I’ll leäve vor your light veet
The peävement o’ the zunless street,
While I do end, as I begun,
My days in oben aïr an’ zun.

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. Second Collection. I know Who

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