William Barnes

Sundry Pieces: The Rwose that Deck’d her Breast

Poor Jenny wer her Robert’s bride
Two happy years, an’ then he died;
An’ zoo the wold vo’k meaede her come,
Vorseaeken, to her maiden hwome.
But Jenny’s merry tongue wer dum’;
     An’ round her comely neck she wore
     A murnen kerchif, where avore
           The rwose did deck her breast.
 
She walk’d alwone, wi’ eye-balls wet,
To zee the flow’rs that she’d a-zet;
The lilies, white’s her maiden frocks,
The spike, to put 'ithin her box,
Wi’ columbines an’ hollyhocks;
     The jilliflow’r an’ nodden pink,
     An’ rwose that touch’d her soul to think
           Ov woone that deck’d her breast.
 
Vor at her wedden, just avore
Her maiden hand had yet a-wore
A wife’s goold ring, wi’ hangen head
She walk’d along thik flower-bed,
Where stocks did grow, a-stained wi’ red,
     An’ meaerygoolds did skirt the walk,
     An’ gather’d vrom the rwose’s stalk
           A bud to deck her breast.
 
An’ then her cheaek, wi’ youthvul blood
Wer bloomen as the rwoses bud;
But now, as she wi’ grief do pine,
’Tis peaele’s the milk-white jessamine.
But Robert have a-left behine
     A little beaeby wi’ his feaece,
     To smile, an’ nessle in the pleaece
           Where the rwose did deck her breast.
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