Third Collection. Went Hwome
Upon the slope, the hedge did bound The vield wi’ blossom-whited zide, An’ charlock patches, yollow-dyed, Did reach along the white-soil’d ground; An’ vo’k, a-comèn up vrom meäd, Brought gil’cup meal upon the shoe; Or went on where the road did leäd, Wi’ smeechy doust from heel to tooe. As noon did smite, wi’ burnèn light, The road so white, to Meldonley. An’ I did tramp the zun-dried ground, By hedge-climb’d hills, a-spread wi’ flow’rs, An’ watershootèn dells, an’ tow’rs, By elem-trees a-hemm’d all round, To zee a vew wold friends, about Wold Meldon, where I still ha’ zome, That bid me speed as I come out, An’ now ha’ bid me welcome hwome, As I did goo, while skies wer blue, Vrom view to view, to Meldonley. An’ there wer timber’d knaps, that show’d Cool sheädes, vor rest, on grassy ground, An’ thatch-brow’d windows, flower-bound, Where I could wish wer my abode. I pass’d the maïd avore the spring, An’ shepherd by the thornèn tree; An’ heard the merry dréver zing, But met noo kith or kin to me, Till I come down, vrom Meldon’s crown To rufs o’ brown, at Meldonley.
William Barnes’s other poems:
