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Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect

by William Barnes. Third Collection

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IN THE SPRING.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

IN THE SPRING.

My love is the maïd ov all maïdens,
Though all mid be comely,
Her skin's lik' the jessamy blossom
A-spread in the Spring.
Her smile is so sweet as a beäby's
Young smile on his mother,
Her eyes be as bright as the dew drop
A-shed in the Spring.
O grey-leafy pinks o' the geärden,
Now bear her sweet blossoms;
Now deck wi' a rwose bud, o' briar,
Her head in the Spring.
O light-rollèn wind blow me hither,
The vaïce ov her talkèn,
O bring vrom her veet the light dowst,
She do tread in the Spring.

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O zun, meäke the gil'cups all glitter,
In goold all around her,
An' meäke o' the deäisys' white flow'rs
A bed in the Spring.
O whissle, gaÿ birds, up bezide her,
In drong-waÿ, an' woodlands,,
O zing, swingèn lark, now the clouds,
Be a-vled in the Spring.
An' who, you mid ax, be my praïses
A-meäkèn so much o',
An' oh! 'tis the maïd I'm a-hopèn
To wed in the sping.