Classic Poem

HUSBAND AND WIFE

HUSBAND

The sweet'nen fruit that fall shall bring
Is now a bud within the rind,
The nest that birds shall build in spring
Is now in moss an' grass untwin'd;
But zun-spann'd days will soon ha' hung
On boughs the fruit an' nest o' young;
An' I staÿè'd on in your spring tide
That you should grow to be my bride.

WIFE

If bonds above mid be a-bound,
Then what's our lot wull be a-vound.

HUSBAND

My houses walls wi' brick-red zide
O' leäte wer only clay unvound;
My thatchen roof, a-slanten wide,
Wer leätely zeed unsprung vrom ground;
But now noo house at Coom do stand
A-put much better out o' hand
Than theäse, that I, in your spring tide,
Did wait to build vor you to guide.

WIFE

I'll try wi' heart, an' hand, an' head,
That you mid speed as you've a-sped.

HUSBAND

O' leäte my wheels wer all unmeäde,
In liven timber under bark;
O' leäte my ploughsheäre's blue-grey bleäde
Wer rock, a-buried in the dark;
But now they all be mine, an' now
I have my meäres to haul or plough.
I waited on, vor all I woo'd,
Vor stock to win our livelihood.

WIFE

To work an' wait's the wisest way
To speed in life, an' have things fay.