Poem by William Barnes

Second Collection. Moonlight on the Door

A-swaÿèn slow, the poplar’s head,
 Above the slopèn thatch did ply,
The while the midnight moon did shed
 His light below the spangled sky.
An’ there the road did reach avore
 The hatch, all vootless down the hill;
 An’ hands, a-tired by day, wer still,
Wi’ moonlight on the door.

A-boomèn deep, did slowly sound
 The bell, a-tellèn middle night;
The while the quiv’rèn ivy, round
 The tree, did sheäke in softest light.
But vootless wer the stwone avore
 The house where I, the maïden’s guest,
 At evenèn, woonce did zit at rest
By moonlight on the door.

Though till the dawn, where night’s a-meäde
 The day, the laughèn crowds be gaÿ,
Let evenèn zink wi’ quiet sheäde,
 Where I do hold my little swaÿ.
An’ childern dear to my heart’s core,
 A-sleep wi’ little heavèn breast,
 That pank’d by day in plaÿ, do rest
Wi’ moonlight on the door.

But still ’tis good, woonce now an’ then,
 To rove where moonlight on the land
Do show in vaïn, vor heedless men,
 The road, the vield, the work in hand.
When curtains be a-hung avore
 The glitt’rèn windows, snowy white,
 An’ vine-leaf sheädes do sheäke in light
O’ moonlight on the door.

1. Second Collection. Light or Sheäde
2. Third Collection. Shaftesbury Feäir
3. First Collection. Sundry Pieces. Aunt’s Tantrums
4. Second Collection. The Waggon a-stooded
5. Third Collection. Zummer Stream

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