Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect/Evenèn in the Village

by William Barnes

EVENÈN IN THE VILLAGE.

Now the light o’ the west is a-turn’d to gloom,
 An’ the men be at hwome vrom ground;
An’ the bells be a-zendèn all down the Coombe
 From tower, their mwoansome sound.
   An’ the wind is still,
  An’ the house-dogs do bark,
An’ the rooks be a-vled to the elems high an’ dark.
 An’ the water do roar at mill.

An’ the flickerèn light drough the window-peäne
 Vrom the candle’s dull fleäme do shoot.
An’ young Jemmy the smith is a-gone down leäne,
 A-plaÿèn his shrill-vaïced flute.
   An’ the miller’s man
  Do zit down at his ease
On the seat that is under the cluster o’ trees,
 Wi’ his pipe an’ his cider can.