Trees Be Company by William Barnes

When zummer’s burnèn het’s a-shed
Upon the droopèn grasses head,
A-drevèn under sheädy leaves
The workvo’k¹ in their snow-white sleeves,
We then mid yearn to clim’ the height,
Where thorns be white, above the vern;
An’ aïr do turn the zunsheen’s might
To softer light too weak to burn —
On woodless downs we mid² be free,
But lowland trees be company.

Though downs mid show a wider view
O’ green a-reachèn into blue
Than roads a-windèn in the glen.
An’ ringèn wi’ the sounds o’ men;
The thissle’s crown o’ red an’ blue
In Fall’s cwold dew do wither brown,
An’ larks come down ‘ithin the lew³.
As storms do brew, an’ skies do frown —
An’ though the down do let us free.
The lowland trees be company.

Where birds do zing, below the zun.
In trees above the blue-smok’d tun⁴,
An’ sheädes o’ stems do overstratch
The mossy path ‘ithin the hatch⁵;
If leaves be bright up over head,
When Maÿ do shed its gitt’rèn light;
Or, in the blight o’ Fall, do spread
A yollow bed avore our zight — –
Whatever season it mid be,
The trees be always company.

When dusky night do nearly hide
The path along the hedge’s zide,
An’ dailight’s hwomely sounds be still
But sounds o’ water at the mill;
Then if noo feäce we long’d to greet
Could come to meet our Iwonesome treäce;
Or if noo peäce⁶ o’ weary veet,
However fleet, could reach its pleäce —

However Iwonesome we mid be.
The trees would still be company.

¹workvo’ok – field labourers
²mid – may
³lew – shelter
⁴tun – chimney
⁵hatch – garden gate
⁶peäce – pace

From: Barnes, William, Select Poems of William Barnes. Chosen and Edited with a Preface and Glossarial Notes by Thomas Hardy, 1922, Humphrey Milford: London, pp. 61-62.
(https://archive.org/stream/selectpoemsofwil00barn#page/60/mode/2up)

Date: 1858

By: William Barnes (1801-1886)