Third Collection. Treat well you Wife
No, no, good Meäster Collins cried, Why you’ve a good wife at your zide; Zoo do believe the heart is true That gi’ed up all bezide vor you, An’ still beheäve as you begun To seek the love that you’ve a-won When woonce in dewy June, In hours o’ hope soft eyes did flash, Each bright below his sheädy lash, A-glisnèn to the moon. Think how her girlhood met noo ceäre To peäle the bloom her feäce did weär, An’ how her glossy temple prest Her pillow down, in still-feäced rest, While sheädes o’ window bars did vall In moonlight on the gloomy wall, In cool-aïr’d nights o’ June; The while her lids, wi’ bendèn streäks O’ lashes, met above her cheäks, A-bloomèn to the moon. Think how she left her childhood’s pleäce, An’ only sister’s long-known feäce, An’ brother’s jokes so much a-miss’d, An’ mother’s cheäk, the last a-kiss’d; An’ how she lighted down avore Her new abode, a husband’s door, Your weddèn night in June; Wi’ heart that beät wi’ hope an’ fear, While on each eye-lash hung a tear, A-glisnèn to the moon. Think how her father zot all dum’, A-thinkèn on her, back at hwome, The while grey axan gather’d thick, On dyèn embers, on the brick; An’ how her mother look’d abrode, Drough window, down the moon-bright road, Thik cloudless night o’ June, Wi’ tears upon her lashes big As raïn-drops on a slender twig, A-glisnèn to the moon. Zoo don’t zit thoughtless at your cup An’ keep your wife a-wäitèn up, The while the clock’s a-tickèn slow The chilly hours o’ vrost an’ snow, Until the zinkèn candle’s light Is out avore her drowsy sight, A-dimm’d wi’ grief too soon; A-leävèn there alwone to murn The feädèn cheäk that woonce did burn, A-bloomèn to the moon.
William Barnes’s other poems:
