Poem by William Barnes

Second Collection. The Beän-vield

’Twer where the zun did warm the lewth,
An’ win’ did whiver in the sheäde,
The sweet-aïr’d beans were out in blooth,
Down there ’ithin the elem gleäde;
A yollow-banded bee did come,
An’ softly-pitch, wi’ hushèn hum,
Upon a beän, an’ there did sip,
Upon a swaÿèn blossom’s lip:
An’ there cried he, “Aye, I can zee,
This blossom’s all a-zent vor me.”

A-jilted up an’ down, astride
Upon a lofty ho’se a-trot,
The meäster then come by wi’ pride,
To zee the beäns that he’d a-got;
An’ as he zot upon his ho’se,
The ho’se ageän did snort an’ toss
His high-ear’d head, an’ at the zight
Ov all the blossom, black an’ white:
“Ah! ah!” thought he, the seäme’s the bee,
“Theäse beäns be all a-zent vor me.”

Zoo let the worold’s riches breed
A strife o’ claïms, wi’ weak and strong,
Vor now what cause have I to heed
Who’s in the right, or in the wrong;
Since there do come drough yonder hatch,
An’ bloom below the house’s thatch,
The best o’ maïdens, an’ do own
That she is mine, an’ mine alwone:
Zoo I can zee that love do gi’e
The best ov all good gifts to me.

Vor whose be all the crops an’ land
A-won an’ lost, an’ bought, an zwold
Or whose, a-roll’d vrom hand to hand,
The highest money that’s a-twold?
Vrom man to man a passèn on,
’Tis here to-day, to-morrow gone.
But there’s a blessèn high above
It all—a soul o’ stedvast love:
Zoo let it vlee, if God do gi’e
Sweet Jessie vor a gift to me.

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. Changes

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