The Rwose That Deck’d Her Breast

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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.

© William Barnes