| |
| AS I wer readèn ov a stwone | |
| In Grenley church-yard all alwone, | |
| A little maïd ran up wi’ pride | |
| To zee me there, an’ push’d a-zide | |
| A bunch o’ bennets that did hide | 5 |
| A ve’se her father, as she zaïd, | |
| Put up above her mother’s head, | |
| To tell how much he loved her. | |
| |
| The ve’se wer short, but very good, | |
| I stood an’ larn’d en where I stood:— | 10 |
| ‘Mid God, dear Meäry, gi’e me greäce | |
| To vind, lik’ thee, a better pleäce, | |
| Where I woonce mwore mid zee thy feäce; | |
| An’ bring thy childern up to know | |
| His word, that they mid come an’ show | 15 |
| Thy soul how much I lov’d thee.’ | |
| |
| ‘Where ’s father, then,’ I zaid, ‘my chile?’ | |
| ‘Dead, too’, she answer’d wi’ a smile; | |
| ‘An’ I an’ brother Jim do bide | |
| At Betty White’s, o’ t’other side | 20 |
| O’ road.’ ‘Mid He, my chile,’ I cried, | |
| ‘That ’s father to the fatherless, | |
| Become thy father now, an’ bless, | |
| An’ keep, an’ leäd, an’ love thee.’ | |
| |
| Though she’ve a-lost, I thought, so much, | 25 |
| Still He don’t let the thoughts o’t touch | |
| Her litsome heart by day or night; | |
| An’ zoo, if we could teäke it right, | |
| Do show He’ll meäke His burdens light | |
| To weaker souls, an’ that His smile | 30 |
| Is sweet upon a harmless chile, | |
| When they be dead that lov’d it. | |
| |
