Poem by William Barnes

Third Collection. Treat well you Wife

No, no, good Meäster Collins cried,
Why you’ve a good wife at your zide;
Zoo do believe the heart is true
That gi’ed up all bezide vor you,
An’ still beheäve as you begun
To seek the love that you’ve a-won
  When woonce in dewy June,
In hours o’ hope soft eyes did flash,
Each bright below his sheädy lash,
  A-glisnèn to the moon.

Think how her girlhood met noo ceäre
To peäle the bloom her feäce did weär,
An’ how her glossy temple prest
Her pillow down, in still-feäced rest,
While sheädes o’ window bars did vall
In moonlight on the gloomy wall,
  In cool-aïr’d nights o’ June;
The while her lids, wi’ bendèn streäks
O’ lashes, met above her cheäks,
  A-bloomèn to the moon.

Think how she left her childhood’s pleäce,
An’ only sister’s long-known feäce,
An’ brother’s jokes so much a-miss’d,
An’ mother’s cheäk, the last a-kiss’d;
An’ how she lighted down avore
Her new abode, a husband’s door,
  Your weddèn night in June;
Wi’ heart that beät wi’ hope an’ fear,
While on each eye-lash hung a tear,
  A-glisnèn to the moon.

Think how her father zot all dum’,
A-thinkèn on her, back at hwome,
The while grey axan gather’d thick,
On dyèn embers, on the brick;
An’ how her mother look’d abrode,
Drough window, down the moon-bright road,
  Thik cloudless night o’ June,
Wi’ tears upon her lashes big
As raïn-drops on a slender twig,
  A-glisnèn to the moon.

Zoo don’t zit thoughtless at your cup
An’ keep your wife a-wäitèn up,
The while the clock’s a-tickèn slow
The chilly hours o’ vrost an’ snow,
Until the zinkèn candle’s light
Is out avore her drowsy sight,
  A-dimm’d wi’ grief too soon;
A-leävèn there alwone to murn
The feädèn cheäk that woonce did burn,
  A-bloomèn to the moon.

1. First Collection. Sundry Pieces. Aunt’s Tantrums
2. Second Collection. Day’s Work a-done
3. Second Collection. The Waggon a-stooded
4. Third Collection. Comen Hwome
5. Third Collection. Sheädes

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