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 meäde her come,

Vorseäken, to her maïden hwome.

But Jenny's merry tongue wer dum';

An' round her comely neck she wore

A murnèn 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 maïden frocks,

The spike, to put 'ithin her box,

Wi' columbines an' hollyhocks;

The jilliflow'r an' noddèn pink,

An' rwose that touch'd her soul to think

Ov woone that deck'd her breast.

Vor at her weddèn, just avore

Her maïden hand had yet a-wore

A wife's goold ring, wi' hangèn head

She walk'd along thik flower-bed,

Where stocks did grow, a-staïned wi' red,

An' meärygoolds did skirt the walk,

An' gather'd vrom the rwose's stalk

A bud to deck her breast.

An' then her cheäk, wi' youthvul blood

Wer bloomèn as the rwoses bud;

But now, as she wi' grief do pine,

'Tis peäle's the milk-white jessamine.

But Robert have a-left behine

A little beäby wi' his feäce,

To smile, an' nessle in the pleäce

Where the rwose did deck her breast.

Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect · 第 235 / 587 题