Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect/The Spring
SPRING.
——o——
THE SPRING.
When wintry weather’s all a-done,
An’ brooks do sparkle in the zun,
An’ nâisy-buildèn 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 cowslip’s hangèn flow’r
A-wetted in the zunny showr,
Do grow wi’ vi’lets, sweet o’ smell,
Bezide the wood-screen’d grægle’s bell;
Where drushes’ aggs, wi’ sky-blue shell.
Do lie in mossy nest among
The thorns, while they do zing their zong
At evenèn in the zunsheen.
An’ God do meäke his win’ to blow
An’ raïn to vail vor high an’ low,
An’ bid his mornèn zun to rise
Vor all alike, an’ groun’ an’ skies
Ha’ colors vor the poor man’s eyes:
An’ in our trials He is near,
To hear our mwoan an’ zee our tear.
An’ turn our clouds to zunsheen.
An’ many times when I do vind
Things all goo wrong, an’ vo’k unkind,
To zee the happy veedèn herds,
An’ hear the zingèn o’ the birds,
Do soothe my sorrow mwore than words;
Vor I do zee that ’tis our sin
Do meäke woone’s soul so dark ’ithin.
When God would gi’e woone zunsheen.