A Good Father
No;
mind
thy
father.
When
his
tongue
Is
keen,
he's
still
thy
friend,
John,
Vor
wolder
vo'k
should
warn
the
young
How
wickedness
will
end,
John;
An'
he
do
know
a
wicked
youth
Would
be
thy
manhood's
beäne,
An'
zoo
would
bring
thee
back
ageän
'Ithin
the
ways
o'
truth.
An'
mind
en
still
when
in
the
end
His
leäbour's
all
a-done,
John,
An'
let
en
vind
a
steadvast
friend
In
thee
his
thoughtvul
son,
John;
Vor
he
did
win
what
thou
didst
lack
Avore
couldst
work
or
stand,
An'
zoo,
when
time
do
num'
his
hand,
Then
pay
his
leäbour
back.
An'
when
his
bwones
be
in
the
dust,
Then
honour
still
his
neäme,
John;
An'
as
his
godly
soul
wer
just,
Let
thine
be
voun'
the
seäme,
John.
Be
true,
as
he
wer
true,
to
men,
An'
love
the
laws
o'
God;
Still
tread
the
road
that
he've
a-trod,
An'
live
wi'
him
ageän.
William Barnes
William Barnes, (born Feb. 22, 1801, Bagber, near Sturminster Newton, Dorsetshire, Eng.—died Oct. 7, 1886, Winterbourne Came, Dorsetshire), English dialect poet whose work gives a vivid picture of the life and labour of rural southwestern England and includes some moving expressions of loss and grief, such as “The Wife A-Lost” and “Woak Hill.” He was also a gifted philologist, and his linguistic theories as well as his poetry influenced two major writers, Thomas Hardy and Gerard Manley Hopkins.