Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect/The Wife a-lost
THE WIFE A-LOST.
Since I noo mwore do zee your feäce,
Up steäirs or down below,
I’ll zit me in the lwonesome pleäce,
Where flat-bough’d beech do grow:
Below the beeches’ bough, my love.
Where you did never come,
An’ I don’t look to meet ye now,
As I do look at hwome.
Since you noo mwore be at my zide,
In walks in zummer het,
I’ll goo alwone where mist do ride,
Drough trees a-drippèn wet:
Below the raïn-wet bough, my love.
Where you did never come,
An’ I don’t grieve to miss ye now,
As I do grieve at home.
Since now bezide my dinner-bwoard
Your vaïce do never sound,
I’ll eat the bit I can avword,
A-vield upon the ground;
Below the darksome bough, my love,
Where you did never dine,
An’ I don’t grieve to miss ye now,
As I at hwome do pine.
Since I do miss your vaïce an’ feäce
In praÿer at eventide,
I’ll praÿ wi’ woone said vaïce vor greäce
To goo where you do bide;
Above the tree an’ bough, my love,
Where you be gone avore,
An’ be a-waitèn vor me now,