| |
| THE GIRT wold house o’ mossy stuone, | |
| Up there upon the knap aluone, | |
| Had oonce a bliazèn kitchèn vier, | |
| That cook’d var poor-vo’ke an’ a squier. | |
The very l ste ov all the riace | 5 |
| That liv’d the squier o’ the pliace, | |
| Died when my fther wer a buoy, | |
| An’ all his kin be gone awoy | |
| Var ever,—var ’e left noo son | |
| To tiake the house o’ mossy stuone. | 10 |
| An’ zoo ’e got in other han’s, | |
| An’ gramfer took en wi’ the lan’s: | |
| An’ there when he, poor man, wer dead, | |
| My fther liv’d an’ I wer bred. | |
| An’ if I wer a squier, I | 15 |
| Should like to spend my life an’ die | |
| In thik wold house o’ mossy stuone, | |
| Up there upon the knap aluone. | |
| |
| Don’t tell o’ housen miade o’ brick, | |
| Wi’ rockèn walls nine inches thick, | 20 |
| A-trigg’d together zide by zide | |
| In streets, wi’ fronts a stroddle wide, | |
| Wi’ yards a-sprinkled wi’ a mop, | |
| Too little var a vrog to hop; | |
| But let me live an’ die where I | 25 |
| Can zee the groun’, an’ trees, an’ sky. | |
| The girt wold house o’ mossy stuone | |
| Had wings var either shiade ar zun: | |
| Oone where the zun did glitter droo, | |
| When vust ’e struck the marnèn dew; | 30 |
| Oone fiaced the evemen sky, and oone | |
| Push’d out a puorch to zweaty noon: | |
| Zoo oone stood out to break the starm, | |
| An’ miade another lew an’ warm. | |
| There wer the copse wi’ timber high, | 35 |
| Wher birds did build an’ hiares did lie, | |
An’ beds o’ gr ygles 1 in the lew, | |
| Did deck in Mây the groun’ wi’ blue. | |
| An’ there wer hills an’ slopèn groun’s, | |
| That tha did ride down wi’ the houn’s; | 40 |
| An’ droo the meäd did creep the brook | |
| Wi’ bushy bank an’ rushy nook, | |
| Wher perch did lie in shiady holes | |
| Below the aller trees, an’ shoals | |
| O’ gudgeon darted by, to hide | 45 |
| Therzelves in hollers by the zide. | |
| An’ there wer windèn lianes so deep, | |
| Wi’ mossy banks so high an’ steep; | |
| An’ stuonèn steps, so smooth an’ wide, | |
| To stiles an’ vootpthes at the zide; | 50 |
| An’ there, so big ’s a little groun’, | |
| The giarden wer a-wall’d all roun’; | |
| An’ up upon the wall wer bars | |
| A-shiaped all out in wheels an’ stars, | |
Var vo’kes to w ’k, an’ look out droo | 55 |
| Vrom trees o’ green to hills o’ blue. | |
| An’ there wer w’ks o’ piavement, brode | |
| Enough to miake a carriage-road, | |
| Wher liadies farmerly did use | |
| To w’k wi’ hoops an’ high-heel shoes, | 60 |
| When yander holler woak wer sound, | |
| Avore the walls wer ivy-bound, | |
| Avore the elems met above | |
| The road between ’em, wher tha drove | |
| Ther coach all up ar down the road | 65 |
| A-comèn huome ar gwâin abrode. | |
| The zummer âir o’ theos green hill | |
| ’V a-heav’d in buzzoms now all still, | |
| An’ all ther hopes an’ all ther tears | |
| Be unknown things ov other years. | 70 |
| But if, in heaven, souls be free | |
| To come back here; ar there can be | |
| An ethly pliace to miake ’em come | |
| To zee it vrom a better huome,— | |
| Then what ’s a-tuold us mid be right, | 75 |
| That still, at dead o’ tongueless night, | |
| Ther gauzy shiapes da come an’ trud | |
| The vootwoys o’ ther flesh an’ blood; | |
| An’ while the trees da stan’ that grow’d | |
| Var the, ar walls ar steps tha know’d | 80 |
| Da bide in pliace, tha’ll always come | |
| To look upon ther ethly huome. | |
| Zoo I wou’d always let aluone | |
| The girt wold house o’ mossy stuone: | |
I wou’den pull a wing  ’n down, | 85 |
| To miake ther speechless shiades to frown; | |
| Var when our souls, zome other dae, | |
| Be bodiless an’ dumb lik’ the, | |
| How good to think that we mid vind | |
| Zome thought vrom tha we left behind, | 90 |
| An’ that zome love mid still unite | |
| The hearts o’ blood wi’ souls o’ light! | |
| Zoo, if ’twer mine, I’d let aluone | |
| The girt wold house o’ mossy stuone. | |
