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.
William Barnes’s other poems:
