Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect/The Zilver-weed

by William Barnes

THE ZILVER-WEED.

The zilver-weed upon the green,
 Out where my sons an’ daughters plaÿ’d,
Had never time to bloom between
 The litty steps o’ bwoy an’ maïd.
But rwose-trees down along the wall,
 That then wer all the maïden’s ceäre,
An’ all a-trimm’d an’ traïn’d, did bear
 Their bloomèn buds vrom Spring to Fall.

But now the zilver leaves do show
 To zummer day their goolden crown,
Wi’ noo swift shoe-zoles’ litty blow,
 In merry plaÿ to beät em down.
An’ where vor years zome busy hand
 Did traïn the rwoses wide an’ high;
Now woone by woone the trees do die,
 An’ vew of all the row do stand.