Zummer An' Winter

When I led by zummer streams
The pride o' Lea, as naighbours thought her,
While the zun, wi' evenen beams,
Did cast our sheades athirt the water;
Winds a-blowen,
Streams a-flowen,
Skies a-glowen,
Tokens ov my jay zoo fleeten,
Heightened it, that happy meeten.

Then, when maid an' man took pleaces,
Gay in winter's Chris'mas dances,
Showen in their merry feaces
Kindly smiles an' glisnen glances;
Stars a-winken,
Day a-shrinken,
Sheades a-zinken,
Brought anew the happy meeten,
That did meake the night too fleeten.

William Barnes

William Barnes was an English writer, poet, minister, and philologist best known for his dialect poems. Born on February 22, 1801, in Dorset, Barnes had a significant impact on the preservation and celebration of the Dorset dialect, incorporating it extensively in his works. Beyond his poetry, Barnes was a champion of linguistic purism and advocated for the use of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary over Latin-derived terms. He passed away on October 7, 1886. His literary contributions are often associated with the rural and pastoral life.

William Barnes

The Child An' The Mowers

William Barnes, Simple Poetry

The Year Clock

William Barnes, Simple Poetry

Evening, And Maidens

William Barnes, Simple Poetry

Tokens

William Barnes, Simple Poetry

English

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The Year Clock

We zot bezide the leafy wall,
Upon the bench at evenfall,
While aunt led off our minds wrom ceare
Wi' veairy teales, I can't tell where,
An' vound us woone among her stock
O' feables, o' the gert Year-clock.
His feace wer blue's the zummer skies,
An' wide's the zight o'looken eyes,
For hands, a zun wi' glowen feace,
An' pealer moon wi' swifter peace,
Did wheel by stars o' twinklen light,
By bright-wall'd day, an' dark-treed night;
An' down upon the high-sky'd land,
A'reachen wide, on either hand,
Wer hill an' dell, wi' win'-sway'd trees,
An' lights a'zweepen over seas,
An' gleamen cliffs, an' bright-wall'd tow'rs,
Wi' sheades a-marken on the hours;
An' as the feace, a-rollen round,
Brought comely sheapes along the ground,
The Spring did com...

William Barnes

Evening, And Maidens

Now the shiades o the elems da stratch muore an muore,
Vrom the low-zinkàn zun in the west o the sky;
An the mâidens da stan out in clusters avore
The doors, var to chatty an zee voke goo by.

An ther cuombs be a-zet in ther bunches o hiair,
An ther curdles1 da hang roun ther necks lily-white,
An ther cheëaks tha be ruosy, ther shoulders be biare,
Ther looks tha be merry, ther lims tha be light.

An the times have a been but tha cëant be noo muore
When I, too, had my jây under evemens dim sky,
When my Fanny did stan out wi others avore
Her door, var to chatty an zee voke goo by.

An up there, in the green, is her own honey-zuck,
That her brother trâind up roun her winder; an there
Is the ruose an the jessamy, where she did pluck
...

William Barnes

The Spring

When wintry weather's all a-done,
An' brooks do sparkle in the zun,
An' naisy-builden rooks do vlee
Wi' sticks toward their elem tree;
When birds do zing, an' we can zee
Upon the boughs the buds o' spring,
Then I'm as happy as a king,
A-vield wi' health an' zunsheen.

Vor then the cowlsip's hangen flower
A-wetted in the zunny shower,
Do grow wi' vi'lets, sweet o' smell,
Bezide the wood-screened graegle's bell;
Where drushes' aggs, wi' sky-blue shell,
Do lie in mossy nest among
The thorns, while they do zing their zong
At evenen in the zunsheen.

An' God do meake his win' to blow
An' rain to vall vor high an' low,
An' bid his mornen zun to rise
Vor all alike, an' groun' an' skies
Ha' colors vor the poor man's eyes:
An' in our ...

William Barnes

The Castle Ruins

A happy day at Whitsuntide,
As soon s the zun begun to vall,
We all strolld up the steep hill-zide
To Meldon, gret an small;
Out where the Castle wall stood high
A-mwoldren to the zunny sky.

An there wi Jenny took a stroll
Her youngest sister, Poll, so gay,
Bezide John Hind, ah! merry soul,
An mid her wedlock fay;
An at our zides did play an run
My little maid an smaller son.

Above the baten mwold upsprung
The driven doust, a-spreaden light,
An on the new-leavd thorn, a-hung,
Wer wool a-quivren white;
An corn, a-sheenen bright, did bow,
On slopen Meldons zunny brow.

There, down the roofless wall did glow
The zun upon the grassy vloor,
An weakly-wandren winds did blow,
Unhinderd by a door;
An smok...

William Barnes

The Geate A-vallen To

In the zunsheen of our zummers
Wi the hay time now a-come,
How busy wer we out a-vield
Wi vew a-left at hwome,
When waggons rumbled out ov yard
Red wheeled, wi body blue,
And back behind em loudly slammd
The geate avallen to.

Drough daysheen ov how many years
The geate ha now a-swung
Behind the veet o vull-grown men
And vootsteps of the young.
Drough years o days it swung to us
Behind each little shoe,
As we tripped lightly on avore
The geate a-vallen to.

In evenen time o starry night
How mother zot at hwome,
And kept her bleazen vier bright
Till father should ha? come,
An how she quickend up and smiled
An stirred her vier anew,
To hear the trampen hoses steps
An geate a-vallen to.

There...

William Barnes

The Child An' The Mowers

O aye! they had woone child bezide,
An' a finer your eyes never met,
Twer a dear little fellow that died
In the summer that come wi' such het;
By the mowers, too thoughtless in fun,
He wer then a-zent off vrom our eyes,
Vrom the light ov the dew-dryen zun,
Aye! vrom days under the blue-hollow'd skies.

He went out to the mowers in meade,
When the zun wer a-rose to his height,
An' the men wer a-swingen the snead,
Wi' their earms in white sleeves, left an' right;
An' out there, as they rested at noon,
O! they drench'd en vrom eale-horns too deep,
Till his thoughts wer a-drown'd in a swoon;
Aye! his life wer a-smother'd in sleep.

Then they laid en there-right on the ground,
On a grass-heap, a-zweltren wi'het,
Wi' his heair all a-wetted around...

William Barnes