Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect/Zummer an' Winter

by William Barnes

ZUMMER AN’ WINTER.

When I led by zummer streams
 The pride o’ Lea, as naïghbours thought her,
While the zun, wi’ evenèn beams,
 Did cast our sheädes athirt the water;
Winds a-blowèn,
Streams a-flowèn,
Skies a-glowèn,
Tokens ov my jaÿ zoo fleetèn,
Heighten’d it, that happy meetèn.

Then, when maïd an’ man took pleäces,
 Gaÿ in winter’s Chris’mas dances,
Showèn in their merry feäces
 Kindly smiles an’ glisnèn glances;
Stars a-winkèn,
Day a-shrinkèn,
Sheädes a-zinkèn,
Brought anew the happy meetèn,
That did meäke the night too fleetèn.