Author:William Barnes/Index of first lines
A
- A happy day, a happy year,
- A happy day at Whitsuntide,
- A maïd wi’ many gifts o’ greäce,
- A Maÿtide’s evenèn wer a-dyèn,
- A new house! Ees, indeed! a small
- A plague! theäse cow wont stand a bit,
- Above the leafless hazzle-wride
- About the tow’r an’ churchyard wall,
- Above the timber’s bendèn sh’ouds,
- After many long years had a-run,
- Ah! don’t tell o’ maïdens! the woone vor my bride
- Ah! ev’ry day mid bring a while
- Ah! good Meäster Gwillet, that you mid ha’ know’d,
- Ah! how the looks o’ sky an’ ground
- Ah! I do think, as I do tread
- Ah! Jeäne, my maïd, I stood to you,
- Ah! Jimmy vow’d he’d have the law
- Ah! John! how I do love to look
- Ah! mam! you woonce come here the while
- Ah! Meäster Collins overtook
- Ah! naïghbour John, since I an’ you
- Ah! sad wer we as we did peäce
- Ah! then the grassy-meäded Maÿ
- Ah! there’s a house that I do know
- Ah! they vew zummers brought us round
- Ah! they wer times, when Nanny Gill
- Ah! when our wedded life begun,
- Ah! when the wold vo’k went abroad
- Ah! yesterday, d’ye know, I voun’
- Ah! yesterday, you know, we carr’d
- Ah! you do seem to think the ground,
- The aïr to gi’e your cheäks a hue
- All up the down’s cool brow
- An’ after that we met wi’ zome
- An’ then we went along the gleädes
- An’ while I went ’ithin a traïn,
- An’ while I zot, wi’ thoughtvul mind,
- An’ zoo o’ Monday we got drough
- An’ zoo’s the day wer warm an’ bright,
- An’ zoo you didden come athirt,
- And oh! the jaÿ our rest did yield,
- A-swaÿèn slow, the poplar’s head,
- As clouds did ride wi’ heästy flight,
- As I, below the mornèn sky,
- As I come by, zome years agoo,
- As I wer out in meäd last week,
- As I wer readèn ov a stwone
- As in the cool-aïr’d road I come by, / —in the night,
- At last Jeäne come down stairs, a-drest
- As evenèn aïr, in green-treed Spring,
- As I at work do look aroun’
- As I do zew, wi’ nimble hand,
- As light do gleäre in ev’ry ground,
- At Easter, though the wind war high,
- At eventide the wind wer loud
- At Lindenore upon the steep,
- At night, as drough the meäd I took my waÿ,
- At peace day, who but we should goo
- At the feäst, I do mind very well, all the vo’ks
- At Woodcombe farm, wi’ ground an’ tree
- Avore the time when zuns went down
- Avore we went a-milkèn, vive
- Aye, a sad life his wife must ha’ led,
- Aye, at that time our days wer but vew,
- Aye, aye, the leäne wi’ flow’iy zides
- Aye, aye, vull rathe the zun mus’ rise
- Aye, back at Leädy-Day, you know,
- Aye, the girt elem tree out in little hwome groun’
- Aye, Meäster Collins wer a-blest
- Aye, vull my heart’s blood now do roll,
B
C
- “Can all be still, when win’s do blow?
- The church do zeem a touchèn zight,
- Come, bring a log o’ cleft wood, Jack,
- Come down to-morrow night; an’ mind,
- Come, Fanny, come! put on thy white,
- Come here an’ zit a while below
- Come let’s goo down the grove to-night;
- Come, let’s stroll down so vur’s the poun’,
- “Come on. Be sprack, a-laggèn back.”
- Come out o’door, ’tis Spring! ’tis Maÿ
- Come out to the parrock, come out to the tree,
- Come, run up hwome wi’ us to night,
D
E
F
G
H
- Heigh! heigh! here. Who’s about?
- Here did swaÿ the eltrot flow’rs,
- Here, Jeäne, we vu’st did meet below
- His aunt an’ uncle,—ah! the kind
- The house where I wer born an’ bred,
- How b’ye, then, John, to-night; an’ how
- How dear’s the door a latch do shut,
- How happy uncle us’d to be
- How merry, wi’ the cider cup,
- Hurrah! my lads, vor Do’set men!
I
- I born in town! oh no, my dawn
- I do mind when there broke bitter tidèns,
- I do seem to zee Grammar as she did use
- I do veel vor ye, Thomas, vor I be a-feär’d
- I don’t want to sleep abrode, John,
- I got two vields, an’ I don’t ceäre
- I took a flight, awhile agoo,
- I went hwome in the dead o’ the night,
- If I had all the land my zight
- If I’ve a-stream’d below a storm,
- If mem’ry, when our hope’s a-gone,
- If souls should only sheen so bright
- If theäse day’s work an’ burnèn sky
- I’m out, when, in the Winter’s blast,
- I’m thankvul I be out o’ that
- In brown-leav’d Fall the wheat a-left
- In church at Grenley woone mid zee
- In happy days when I wer young,
- In happy times a while agoo,
- In leäne the gipsies, as we went
- In the common by our hwome
- In stillness we ha’ words to hear,
- In zummer, leäte at evenèn tide,
- In zummer, when the sheädes do creep
- In zummer, when the knaps wer bright
- ’Ithin the woodlands, flow’ry gleäded,
- I’ve a-come by the Maÿ-tree all times o’ the year,
J
K
L
M
N
- News o’ grief had overteäken
- No! I don’t begrudge en his life,
- No, I’m a man, I’m vull a man,
- No! Jenny, there’s noo pleäce to charm
- No; mind thy father. When his tongue
- No, no, good Meäster Collins cried,
- No, no! I ben’t a-runnèn down
- No, no, why you’ve noo wife at hwome
- No: where the woak do overspread,
- Noo soul did hear her lips complaïn,
- Now day by day, at lofty height,
- Now, Fanny, ’tis too bad, you teazèn maïd!
- Now the light o’ the west is a-turn’d to gloom,
- Now the sheädes o’ the elems do stratch mwore an’ mwore,
- Now the yollow zun, a-runnèn
- Now the zunny aïr’s a-blowèn
O
- O, aye! they had woone child bezide,
- O, I be a carter, wi’ my whip
- O jaÿ betide the dear wold mill,
- O Jenny, don’t sobby! vor I shall be true;
- O Lizzie is so mild o’ mind,
- O! Meäry, when the zun went down,
- O mother, mother! be the teäties done?
- O Poll’s the milk-maïd o’ the farm!
- O’ small-feäc’d flow’r that now dost bloom
- O spread ageän your leaves an’ flow’rs,
- O the wings o’ the rook wer a-glitterèn bright,
- O when our zun’s a-zinkèn low,
- O when theäse elems’ crooked boughs,
- O wild-reävèn west winds; as you do roar on,
- O zummer clote! when the brook’s a-glidèn
- Oh! aye! the spring ’ithin the leäne,
- Oh! Bob the fiddler is the pride
- Oh! I be shepherd o’ the farm,
- Oh! I vu’st know’d o’ my true love,
- Oh! if my ling’rèn life should run,
- Oh! no, I quite injaÿ’d the ride
- Oh! no, Poll, no! Since they’ve a-took
- Oh! the wood wer a-vell’d in the copse,
- Oh! thik Gammony Gaÿ is so droll,
- Oh! there be angels evermwore,
- Oh! when the friends we us’d to know,
- Ov all the birds upon the wing
- Ov all the chaps a-burnt so brown
- Ov all the cows, among the rest
- Ov all the housen o’ the pleäce,
- Ov all the meäds wi’ shoals an’ pools,
- Ov all the roads that ever bridge
P
Q
R
S
T
- That’s slowish work, Bob. What’st a-been about?
- There be the greyhounds! lo’k! an’ there’s the heäre!
- There Liddy zot bezide her cow,
- There lovely Jenny past,
- There the ash-tree leaves do vall
- There’s noo pleäce I do like so well,
- There’s thik wold hag, Moll Brown, look zee, jus’ past!
- There’s what the vo’k do call a veäiry ring
- They do zay that a travellèn chap
- This is a darkish evenèn; b’ye a-feärd
- The thissledown by wind’s a-roll’d
- Though cool avore the sheenèn sky
- Though ice do hang upon the willows
- ’Tis merry ov a zummer’s day, (Haÿ-Meäken)
- ’Tis merry ov a zummer’s day, (Haÿ-Carrèn)
- ’Tis true I brought noo fortune hwome
- ’Tis zome vo’ks jaÿ to teäke the road,
- To morrow stir so brisk’s you can,
- ’Twer at night, an’ a keen win’ did blow
- ’Twer good what Meäster Collins spoke
- ’Twer Maÿ, but ev’ry leaf wer dry
- ’Twer out at Penley I’d a-past
- ’Twer when the busy birds did vlee,
- ’Twer when the vo’k wer out to hawl
- ’Twer where my fondest thoughts do light,
- ’Twer where the zun did warm the lewth,
U
V
W
- We Do’set, though we mid be hwomely,
- We now mid hope vor better cheer,
- We thought you woulden leäve us quite
- We took the apples in last week,
- We zot bezide the leäfy wall,
- Well, aye, last evenèn, as I shook
- Well here, then, Mister auctioneer,
- Well, here we be, then, wi’ the vu’st poor lwoad
- Well, I do zay ’tis wo’th woone’s while
- Well! thanks to you, my faïthful Jeäne.
- Well, Tom, how be’st? Zoo thou’st a-got thy neäme
- Well, you mid keep the town an’ street,
- When dewy fall’s red leaves do vlee
- When evenèn is a-drawèn in,
- When evenèn sheädes o’ trees do hide
- When high-flown larks wer on the wing,
- When hot-beam’d zuns do strik right down,
- When I led by zummer streams
- When I wer still a bwoy, an’ mother’s pride,
- When in the evenèn the zun’s a-zinkèn,
- When in happy times we met,
- When, leäte o’ nights, above the green
- When leäzers wi’ their laps o’ corn
- When mornèn winds, a-blowèn high,
- When music, in a heart that’s true,
- When out below the trees, that drow’d
- When Pentridge House wer still the nest
- When sheädes do vail into ev’ry hollow,
- When skies wer peäle wi’ twinklèn stars,
- When snow-white clouds wer thin an’ vew
- When starbright maïdens be to zit
- When sycamore leaves wer a-spreadèn,
- When the warm zummer breeze do blow over the hill,
- When vu’st along theäse road vrom mill,
- When vu’st the breakèn day is red,
- When hillborne Paladore did show
- When our downcast looks be smileless,
- When we in mornèn had a-drow’d
- When weakness now do strive wi’ might
- When wind wer keen.
- When wintry weather’s all a-done,
- When zummer’s burnèn het’s a-shed
- Where the bridge out at Woodley did stride,
- Where cows did slowly seek the brink
- Where the western zun, unclouded,
- While down the meäds wound slow,
- The while I took my bit o’ rest,
- While now upon the win’ do zwell
- While zome, a-gwaïn from pleäce to pleäce,
- While zuns do roll vrom east to west
- Why ees, aunt Anne’s a little staïd,
- Why, his heart’s lik’ a popple, so hard as a stwone,
- Why woonce, at Chris’mas-tide, avore
- Why, raïn or sheen, or blow or snow,
- Why thik wold post so long kept out,
- Why tidden vields an’ runnèn brooks,
- Wi’ smokeless tuns an’ empty halls,
- The windless copse ha’ sheädy boughs,
- The winter clouds, that long did hide
- The woaken tree, a-beät at night
- The woaken tree, so hollow now,
- Woone’s heart mid leäp wi’ thoughts o’ jaÿ
- Wull ye come in eärly Spring,
X
Y
Z
- The zilver-weed upon the green,
- Zoo after supper wer a-done,
- Zoo here be your childern, a-sheärèn
- Zoo then the leädy an’ the squier,
- Zoo you be in your groun’ then, I do zee,
- The zun can zink, the stars mid rise,
- The zun’d a-zet back tother night,
- The zun, O Jessie, while his feäce do rise
- “The zunny copse ha’ birds to zing,
