The Beäten Path by William Barnes

The beäten path where vo’k do meet
A-comèn on vrom vur an’ near;
How many errands had the veet
That wore en out along so clear!
Where eegrass bleädes be green in meäd,
Where bennets up the leäze be brown,
An’ where the timber bridge do leäd
Athirt the cloty brook to town,
Along the path by mile an’ mile,
Athirt the yield, an’ brook, an’ stile,
There runnèn childern’s hearty laugh
Do come an’ vlee along–win’ swift:
The wold man’s glossy-knobbèd staff
Do help his veet so hard to lift;
The maïd do bear her basket by,
A-hangèn at her breäthèn zide;
An’ ceäreless young men, straïght an’ spry,
Do whissle hwome at eventide,
Along the path, a-reachèn by
Below tall trees an’ oben sky.
There woone do goo to jaÿ a-head;
Another’s jaÿ’s behind his back.
There woone his vu’st long mile do tread,
An’ woone the last ov all his track.
An’ woone mid end a hopevul road,
Wi’ hopeless grief a-teäkèn on,
As he that leätely vrom abroad
Come hwome to seek his love a-gone,
Noo mwore to tread, wi’ comely eäse,
The beäten path athirt the leäze.
In tweilsome hardships, year by year,
He drough the worold wander’d wide,
Still bent, in mind, both vur an’ near
To come an’ meäke his love his bride.
An’ passèn here drough evenèn dew
He heästen’d, happy, to her door,
But vound the wold vo’k only two,
Wi’ noo mwore vootsteps on the vloor,
To walk ageän below the skies,
Where beäten paths do vall an’ rise;
Vor she wer gone vrom e’thly eyes
To be a-kept in darksome sleep,
Until the good ageän do rise
A-jaÿ to souls they left to weep.
The rwose wer doust that bound her brow;
The moth did eat her Zunday ceäpe;
Her frock wer out o’ fashion now;
Her shoes wer dried up out o’ sheäpe–
The shoes that woonce did glitter black
Along the leäzes beäten track.

—————

The End

And that’s the End of the Poem

© Poetry Monster, 2021.

Poems by topic and subject.

Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry.

Poetry Monster — the multilingual library of poetic works. Here you’ll find original poems, poetry translations, ancient verses, ballads and even folk tales.

Poetry Monster (or even The Poetry Monster) — is also an international multilingual community of poets and poetry connoisseurs. Join us:

Register.

Some external links: The Bat’s Poetry Cave. — Fledermaus’s poetry site. Talking Writing Monster. — the irreverent and irrelevant chatter on subjects both serious and not quite. A free for all board. You can scribble anything on it without registration (but it doesn’t let spammers in). You can even post your poems. Qwant.com. — a search engine from France. It’s an alternative because there are a few alternatives, like Bing, Duckduckgo, and Ecosia. And there is Yandex, the ultimate language-oriented search engine for the Russophone world. Commercial Links: Russian Commerce – the foreign trade assistance agency Other links: Poems and poetry in Russian (if you are reading this in English, as you obviously are, then you’d have to switch the language, the language switch is on the menu. More on languages)