English Poetry. William Barnes. First Collection. Summer. The Sky a-cleärèn. Уильям Барнс.

William Barnes (Уильям Барнс)

First Collection. Summer. The Sky a-cleärèn

The drevèn scud that overcast
The zummer sky is all a-past,
An’ softer aïr, a-blowèn drough
The quiv’rèn boughs, do sheäke the vew
Last raïn drops off the leaves lik’ dew;
 An’ peäviers, now a-gettèn dry,
 Do steam below the zunny sky
  That’s now so vast a-cleärèn.

The sheädes that wer a-lost below
The stormy cloud, ageän do show
Their mockèn sheäpes below the light;
An’ house-walls be a-lookèn white,
An’ vo’k do stir woonce mwore in zight,
 An’ busy birds upon the wing
 Do whiver roun’ the boughs an’ zing,
  To zee the sky a-clearèn.

Below the hill’s an ash; below
The ash, white elder-flow’rs do blow:
Below the elder is a bed
O’ robinhoods o’ blushèn red;
An’ there, wi’ nunches all a-spread,
 The haÿ-meäkers, wi’ each a cup
 O’ drink, do smile to zee hold up
  The raïn, an’ sky a-cleärèn.

’Mid blushèn maïdens, wi’ their zong,
Still draw their white-stemm’d reäkes among
The long-back’d weäles an’ new-meäde pooks,
By brown-stemm’d trees an’ cloty brooks;
But have noo call to spweil their looks
 By work, that God could never meäke
 Their weaker han’s to underteäke,
  Though skies mid be a-cleärèn.

’Tis wrong vor women’s han’s to clips
The zull an’ reap-hook, speädes an’ whips;
An’ men abroad, should leäve, by right,
Woone faïthful heart at hwome to light
Their bit o’ vier up at night,
 An’ hang upon the hedge to dry
 Their snow-white linen, when the sky
  In winter is a-cleärèn.

William Barnes’s other poems:

1. First Collection. Winter. Keepèn up o’ Chris’mas
2. Third Collection. Comen Hwome
3. Second Collection. Slow to come, quick agone
4. Second Collection. John Bleäke at Hwome
5. Third Collection. Things do Come Round

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