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.
William Barnes’s other poems:
