Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect/Sound o' Water

by William Barnes

SOUND O’ WATER.

I born in town! oh no, my dawn
O’ life broke here beside theäse lawn;
Not where pent aïr do roll along,
In darkness drough the wall-bound drong,
An’ never bring the goo-coo’s zong,
Nor sweets o’ blossoms in the hedge,
Or bendèn rush, or sheenèn zedge,
 Or sounds o’ flowèn water.

The aïr that I’ve a-breath’d did sheäke
The draps o’ rain upon the breäke,
An’ bear aloft the swingèn lark,
An’ huffle roun’ the elem’s bark,
In boughy grove, an’ woody park,
An’ brought us down the dewy dells,
The high-wound zongs o’ nightingeäles,
 An’ sounds o’ flowèn water.

An’ when the zun, wi’ vi’ry rim,
’S a-zinkèn low, an’ wearèn dim,
Here I, a-most too tired to stand,
Do leäve my work that’s under hand
In pathless wood or oben land,
To rest ’ithin my thatchèn oves,
Wi’ ruslèn win’s in leafy groves,
 An’ sounds o’ flowèn water.