Why, rain or sheen, or blow or snow,
I zaid, if I could stand so’s,
I’d come, vor all a friend or foe,
To sheaeke ye by the hand, so’s;
An’ spend, wi’ kinsvo’k near an’ dear,
A happy evenen, woonce a year,
A-zot wi’ me’th
Avore the he’th
To zee the new year in, so’s.
There’s Jim an’ Tom, a-grown the size
O’ men, girt lusty chaps, so’s,
An’ Fanny wi’ her sloo-black eyes,
Her mother’s very dap’s, so’s;
An’ little Bill, so brown’s a nut,
An’ Poll a gigglen little slut,
I hope will shoot
Another voot
The year that’s comen in, so’s.
An’ there, upon his mother’s knee,
So peaert do look about, so’s,
The little woone ov all, to zee
His vu’st wold year goo out, so’s
An’ zoo mid God bless all o’s still,
Gwain up or down along the hill,
To meet in glee
Ageaen to zee
A happy new year in, so’s.
The wold clock’s han’ do softly steal
Up roun’ the year’s last hour, so’s;
Zoo let the han’-bells ring a peal,
Lik’ them a-hung in tow’r, so’s.
Here, here be two vor Tom, an’ two
Vor Fanny, an’ a peaeir vor you;
We’ll meaeke em swing,
An’ meaeke em ring,
The merry new year in, so’s.
Tom, mind your time there; you be wrong.
Come, let your bells all sound, so’s:
A little clwoser, Poll; ding, dong!
There, now ’tis right all round, so’s.
The clock’s a-striken twelve, d’ye hear?
Ting, ting, ding, dong! Farewell, wold year!
’Tis gone, ’tis gone!—
Goo on, goo on,
An’ ring the new woone in, so’s!
Other works by William Barnes...
