Early Pla Meäte
After
many
long
years
had
a-run,
The
while
I
wer
a-gone
vrom
the
pleäce,
I
come
back
to
the
vields,
where
the
zun
Ov
her
childhood
did
show
me
her
feäce.
There
her
father,
years
wolder,
did
stoop.
An'
her
brother,
wer
now
a-grow'd
staïd,
An'
the
apple
tree
lower
did
droop.
Out
in
the
orcha'd
where
we
had
a-plaÿ'd,
There
wer
zome
things
a-seemèn
the
seäme,
But
Meäry's
a-married
awaÿ.
There
wer
two
little
childern
a-zent,
Wi'
a
message
to
me,
oh!
so
feaïr
As
the
mother
that
they
did
zoo
ment,
When
in
childhood
she
plaÿ'd
wi'
me
there.
Zoo
they
twold
me
that
if
I
would
come
Down
to
Coomb,
I
should
zee
a
wold
friend,
Vor
a
plaÿmeäte
o'
mine
wer
at
hwome,
An'
would
staÿ
till
another
week's
end.
At
the
dear
pworchèd
door,
could
I
dare
To
zee
Meäry
a-married
awaÿ!
On
the
flower-not,
now
all
a-trod
Stwony
hard,
the
green
grass
wer
a-spread,
An'
the
long-slighted
woodbine
did
nod
Vrom
the
wall,
wi'
a
loose-hangèn
head.
An'
the
martin's
clay
nest
wer
a-hung
Up
below
the
brown
oves,
in
the
dry,
An'
the
rooks
had
a-rock'd
broods
o'
young
On
the
elems
below
the
Maÿ
sky;
But
the
bud
on
the
bed,
coulden
bide,
Wi'
young
Meäry
a-married
awaÿ.
There
the
copse-wood,
a-grow'd
to
a
height,
Wer
a-vell'd,
an'
the
primrwose
in
blooth,
Among
chips
on
the
ground
a-turn'd
white,
Wer
a-quiv'rèn,
all
beäre
ov
his
lewth.
The
green
moss
wer
a-spread
on
the
thatch,
That
I
left
yollow
reed,
an'
avore
The
small
green,
there
did
swing
a
new
hatch,
Vor
to
let
me
walk
into
the
door.
Oh!
the
rook
did
still
rock
o'er
the
rick,
But
wi'
Meäry
a-married
awaÿ.
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.