LONE AND WEARY.
Deid winter’s nūt sa dark to me
As t’ lang leet days o’ t’ spring;—
I hate to see a swallow flee,
Or hear a throssle sing;
I greàn at t’ fresh green leaves on t’ trees;
I turn frae t’ flooers o’ May,
For t’ croft was white wid dog-daisies
When Jwohn was teàn away.
We coortit lang, dud Jwohn an’ me—
We waitit lang an’ sair—
He thowte oor weddin’ mūdn’t be
While beàth war poor an’ bare;
An’ sep’rat’, I gat past my prime,
Jwohn barrow-back’t an’ grey;—
Reet sair I grudg’t that wastit time,
When Jwohn was teàn away.
Jwohn pinch’t an’ spar’t, an’ tew’t an’ streàv,
Till t’ heart wid-in him brak’—
Still aimin’ brass aneuf to seàv,
Some lal bit farm to tak’:
An’ when he’d gitten t’ farm an’ me,
’Twas plain he mūdn’t stay;—
He dwined through t’ winter dark an’ dree—
I’ t’ spring was teàn away.
We may’d hed many a happy year,
If thowte to t’ winds we’d flung,
An’ join’t oor strength life’s leàd to beear,
When beàth war lish an’ yūng:
But widdert was oor flooer o’ life
Afoor oor weddin’ day;
An’ I’d nūt been ya year a wife
When Jwohn was teàn away.
Sooa t’ spring o’ life na sūmmer browte,
To my poor man or me;
An’ t’ spring o’ t’ year noo brings me nowte
But t’ mind o’ misery.
I can’t see what anudder sees
I’ t’ fields an’ t’ flooers o’ May,
For t’ croft was white wid dog-daisies
When Jwohn was teàn away.