The Echo by William Barnes – The Poetry Monster

About the tow’r an’ churchyard wall,
Out nearly overright our door,
A tongue ov wind did always call
Whatever we did call avore.
The vaïce did mock our neämes, our cheers,
Our merry laughs, our hands’ loud claps,
An’ mother’s call “Come, come, my dears”
–_my dears_;
Or “Do as I do bid, bad chaps”
–_bad chaps_.
An’ when o’ Zundays on the green,
In frocks an’ cwoats as gaÿ as new,
We walk’d wi’ shoes a-meäde to sheen
So black an’ bright’s a vull-ripe slooe
We then did hear the tongue ov aïr
A-mockèn mother’s vaïce so thin,
“Come, now the bell do goo vor praÿ’r”
–_vor pray’r_;
“‘Tis time to goo to church; come in”
–_come in_.
The night when little Anne, that died,
Begun to zickèn, back in Maÿ,
An’ she, at dusk ov evenèn-tide,
Wer out wi’ others at their plaÿ,
Within the churchyard that do keep
Her little bed, the vaïce o’ thin
Dark aïr, mock’d mother’s call “To sleep”
–_to sleep_;
“‘Tis bed time now, my love, come in”
–_come in_.
An’ when our Jeäne come out so smart
A-married, an’ we help’d her in
To Henry’s newly-païnted cart,
The while the wheels begun to spin,
An’ her gaÿ nods, vor all she smil’d,
Did sheäke a tear-drop vrom each eye,
The vaïce mock’d mother’s call, “Dear child”
–_dear child_;
“God bless ye evermwore; good bye”
–_good bye_.

—————

The End

And that’s the End of the Poem

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